Homemakers' Comprehensive Guide to Trading Forex Using the Aid of Forex Trading Signal Service

Do you know that more and more homemakers today are trading Forex?

It's no longer a secret and as a matter of fact, the number of homemakers who later become successful traders is rising fast. Despite the busy days managing everything at home, these homemakers still manage to trade Forex without abandoning their tasks and not only that, these homemakers also contribute enough to the their family financially. This story is not exaggerated at all. It's pure reality. The good news is, believe it or not it can also be your life story.

Before you can get to their level, you must go through the whole process. Fortunately, you can choose from one of two paths-the difficult way and the wise way. The two scenarios below will help you understand the differences:

Scenario A-the difficult way

Maria is a housewife with two kids. Her husband is the backbone of the family; financially speaking. He takes home a good sum on his check every month and provided his wife and their kids all of their needs. Nonetheless, being so effective and efficient at doing her task, Maria felt that she is having too much free time around the house. As a result, she began searching for something that might be worthwhile to do and found Forex to be the suitable one for this purpose. So she started buying DVDs, home coaching, and even attended online seminars hoping that she would be able to make money consistently. Eventually she ended up spending $5,000 for the whole thing before she even started trading Forex with real account. She diligently practiced everything that she acquired from the resources that she bought. With great discipline, she finally had the confidence to trade using a real account. Maria told her husband that she is ready to trade with real account. Her husband supported her and gave her another $6,750 to open a real account. So she started her Forex trading journey carefully and conservatively because she did not want to waste her husband's hard earned cash. A month later, her account is already up $500 making a total of $7,250. Her husband and children were very happy about this. The next month, she lost $75 so her total is now $7,175. The month after that, she added another $730 to her account so the new total is $7,905. So far, the money she spent as an investment is $5,000 (in terms of business, this is not classified as expense because you hope to bring more money by spending it) and the amount of money gained for three months is $1,155. All this happened in 6 months-3 months in training and honing her trading skills and 3 months in real trading. She relied on herself to do the trading and managed to do so and more importantly her husband and children are proud of her. It is indeed a great job.

Scenario B-the wise way

Jennifer is a homemaker with two little boys and a daughter. Her husband work from 9 to 5 and he never missed a chance to take additional tasks in order to impress his boss. Meanwhile, Jennifer herself is pretty busy with her three little ones. They are very active around the house and so, Jennifer doesn't really have that much time to take a break during her hectic time. One day, her friend introduced her to online business and told her that she could make money from the convenience of her home without abandoning her kids. Moreover, her friend told her that she can do this even without any skill or knowledge. Out of curiosity, Jennifer asked them how. Her friend told her that there's a service that can help her achieve this. Not only that, the service also comes with a learning opportunity. Jennifer spent some time to think about it and convinced herself that she can do this because even though she is busy she yearned to be able to do something to help build her children's future and take some burden off her husband's shoulder. So Jennifer talked about it with her husband and he handed her $6,200 because they don't really have that much cash for this. Jennifer then setup a real Forex trading account with her $5,500 and subscribed to a trading signal service just as her friend told her. She paid $100 for the trading signal service and she get the help of Forex professional to do the most difficult part in trading for one month. She wanted to gradually build her account and don't want to be reckless and greedy so she traded Forex conservatively. At the end of that month, she managed to bank $520 making her balance $6,020. It's a good start. And then she paid another $100 for the next's month's service. During that month she took home $300 and raises her account balance to $6,320. Not bad. She took another $100 from the $700 that she set aside to pay for trading signal services. This time around, she added $683 and ended up with $7,003. Summing up, Jennifer set aside $700 for the purpose of paying the trading signal service and already spent $300 from it and the amount of money she added to her trading account so far is $1,503. Everything happened in a short period of 3 months and Jennifer is now getting better in her learning and soon she might be able to trade by herself and more importantly she can contribute to the family financially. Great job, Jennifer.

The moral of the story is you can do it on your own and spend a lot more time, effort and money (she needed $5,000 to prepare herself and another $6,750 to fund her real account) or you can cut the time and only prepare almost a half less money ($700 for the purpose of paying monthly subscription fees and $5,500 for the opening a live Forex trading account). Both of them aim to become a proficient Forex trader and needless to say, both of them have the same opportunity. The differences between the two paths are clear. You decide which one to choose. Now, assuming that you choose to go with the wise way, you only have to follow 3 simple steps below:

Step 1: find yourself a trusted Forex trading signal service and pay the subscription fee. This fee will grant you the ability to use their service for the next 30 days (one month).

Step 2: for the most part, you will have to wait for the trading alert to hit your email or cellphone or trading platform. Whenever good trading opportunity emerges, the service will send you a trading signal complete with entry and exit point and also stop loss level in the form of email or text message (SMS) or trade alert. This can be twice a week or even more depending on the market condition. In the mean time, you can browse the website to find trading tutorials and resources so you can learn how to become a successful trader yourself.

Step 3: once you get trading signal you need to enter the orders (open a buy or sell position and the stop loss or take profit level) exactly as written. A trading alert will include where to open a buy or sell position and also where to put a stop loss or take profit level. If the trader(s) from the service sees some changes in the market after you enter the position they will update you with another alert telling what step you need to take. Sometimes the recommendation is to exit the position or to modify your stop loss or take profit levels. This will help secure part or whole profit you have from dropping so you can maximize your profit.

Those are the only things that you need to do. To be bluntly honest, nothing is even near this level of ease and comfort in the Forex trading world. The convenience is why many people use a trading signal service. So, if you are ready to go with this path, there are several tips that can help you maximize the use of the trading signal service:

Some prerequisites before you continue...

Before you can make money or expect to do any analysis you must first familiarize yourself with the new environment. Learn as much as you can about the terms used in the industry and try to understand the basics of how the market works. You don't have to go too deep just as long as you know how things work. Much of the information you need can be found simply by using google and enter Forex glossary as the keywords or term. Also, you need to familiarize yourself with the trading platform that is widely used in the Forex world. Meta Trader 4 (often abbreviated as MT4) is no doubt the most popular trading platform in Forex trading. Meta Trader 5 is already on the market but the basic function is the same and MT5 is still not widely used compared to MT4. To familiarize yourself with MT4, you can go to Alpari U.S. (or Alpari UK if you are not a U.S. resident) to register a demo account and download their MT4 platform. The familiarizing phase will usually take about two to three weeks at most.

Make sure you use the same price feed or Forex broker.

It is essential that you use the same price feed that the Forex trading signal service uses. Of course the reason is because there is no central data center that feeds Forex brokers with prices. Other trading market such as the futures market has central data feed/clearing service like CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) that acts as the sole price feeders to futures brokers on ES (S&P 500 futures). Thus, you will the same price for ES even though you use different broker. Unfortunately this is non-existent in the Forex market. You will definitely see different price on different broker. The difference might vary from 1 to 5 pips and this is huge. It might not seem huge in the first time but over the time the difference will accumulate to a gigantic amount. If you are trading using a standard account (100K contract size) 1 pip is equal to $10 so 5 pips is equal to $50. Now, if you have a big account and trade 5 standard lots the amount that you will lose can be anywhere from $50 to $250 in a single trade. Suppose that you trade once a week with 5 standard lots the amount that you will lose over a period of 1 year is anywhere from $2,600 ($50x52 weeks) to $13,000 ($250x52 weeks). That's a lot of money. This is why it's crucial to use the same Forex broker that the service uses.

Stay close to your computer or cell phone.

This is also important. There are three main delivery methods used by Forex trading signal services: email, text message (SMS) and pop up alert via your trading platform. You can imagine what will happen when you are not near your computer or cell phone, right? Chances are you will miss a good trading opportunity or two. Also, you need to be mindful if you use a laptop or a notebook because there is a chance that your laptop will run out of battery so make sure you plug the cord. A blackout is rare but it is also good if you have a UPS. Sound is also important so you can hear any incoming email or text message. Last but not the least is to make sure to monitor the battery of your cell phone or smart phone's.

Never doubt a trading alert.

The rule of thumb is to enter a trade when you receive a trade alert. Do not hesitate. Hesitation can lead to procrastination and procrastination can lead to missing trade opportunity. This is why the number one rule when you use a signal service is: never doubt or hesitate to enter a trade recommended to you. One thing that is clear in Forex trading is you never really know for how long a trend will last but you know for sure is the amount of risk that you can take. This is why you should treat every trading opportunity the same no matter how you feel about it. Riding the trend is only possible when you are in the market not outside the market.

Don't try to modify a trading alert/signal.

This is the one subject often overlooked. You should never try to modify the trading signal. The signal comes from trader's analysis and you might not understand his method of analysis and therefore, you should not attempt modifying the signal. When you receive a trading alert that recommends you to buy EUR/USD as 1.3000 it means you should buy at the exact price. Every pip is important because there are considerations behind every trading signal such as trading technique, risk levels, the currency pair's unique behavior and current market condition. Thus, modifying any element in the trading signal will affect the trade outcome. That is why it is better to enter the trade just as recommended and leave the trade unless the trader update you with some changes due to market condition. The only time you can modify the entry or exit order is when you already understand the trader's trading method.

How to measure the trading performance?

A good Forex trading signal service can deliver anywhere from 5% to 30% per month. Those figures are the average and therefore, the actual result will vary depending on your risk tolerance. If you are a risk taker, you might gain more but there is also a chance to lose more and if you are conservative trader, you will obviously gain less with reduced chance of losing. One thing you need to avoid is jumping from one trading signal service to another trading signal service. There is really no guarantee that the other trading signal service will perform better. High risk always equals high reward. The one thing that you should seek out in this business is consistency. It is far better to subscribe to a service that can consistently deliver 10% to 25% than to go with the one that deliver 50% this month and then -20% the next month. Remember, consistency is very precious in this business.

Only subscribe to a genuine Forex trading signal service.

The task of finding a genuine and great Forex trading signal service is not easy. The fact that the internet is filled with hundreds of Forex trading signal services makes it even more difficult. Every Forex trading signal service claims that they are the best and it takes time to really find the one that stood up to the claim. Picking a genuine, great service involves evaluating several factors such as reputation, result and proof. Of course it is not necessary to subscribe to each one of those services just to find the genuine one because it will cost money and time to do so. If you choose the wrong service you will not only end up in disappointment but also you will lose money not because of the fee but in the form of losing trades. Moreover, you will lose good trading opportunities and time. This is why you should only deal with a genuine Forex trading signal. A great service will benefit you in the long run and there is no substitute for a successful Forex journey. One last note, don't fall for services that claim they have lower fee because lower fee does not equal higher profitability. You might save some bucks but you might lose a lot in unprofitable trades.

Trading Forex is not easy and it is even more difficult if you don't know where to start. Acquiring good information is always the first important step and you already have it. The simple steps and guide provided above will help you greatly in your Forex journey as they did to other homemakers around the world.

The next thing to do is of course to take the first step in your Forex trading journey because obviously, knowledge and information means nothing if you don't implement them. Find out about the best Forex trading signal service in the market today by visiting this website http://www.forextradingsignalserviceforhomemaker.info

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

A Comprehensive Guide in Choosing the Best Among the T1 Service Providers

T1 Service Providers

All workloads for your company will be way more productive since your data and communication needs will be processes by the T1 line. T1 service providers that offers T1 internet services will make sure to keep everything and everybody moving without any downtime at all. Now, would you want to experience of having a web conferencing together with your staff members coming from different locations? Today, you have all the freedom to do that with no worries about the bandwidth issues. All of these advantages and benefits are just that for your company's business needs. Productivity and profits will improve as well for your business when you use T1 internet services that are being provided by the T1 service providers.

T1 service providers that offer the infamous T1 internet can help in making your company maintain its website - upload and download important and essential files without having to feel any run-out of bandwidth. And do you know what this means? More employees will be doing their jobs and tasks without any interruptions! This just make the cost of T1 internet pay for its worth over the period of time that you signed a contract for. T1 service providers make sure that unlike the local DSL service, T1 connections assure you that you don't have to share your bandwidth with other subscribers.

So if you have lots of people working for your company that needs to communicate and work with each other, well this is going to be a huge benefit. These benefits of having a blazing fast internet connection can be observed and felt especially when you usually have to share large files. You will discover that the T1 service provider who have offered you the T1 internet services will be the best thing that ever happened with your communications team ever since the invention of radio. Choosing a decent T1 service provider that can give you the proper T1 service will surely result to a better prepared workforce and this will immediately translate to higher earnings in the bottom line, which perhaps the goal of every single company.

The technology that pushed the T1 service providers into making the T1 internet will get your business from the tracks into being well-run machine. Your workers as well as colleagues will truly enjoy having instant access to the internet without any disruptions. T1 service providers have proven that T1 internet services are the best thing that ever happened to businesses and establishments today.

Types of T1 Service Providers

In countries like Japan, North America and South Korea, T1 service providers that offer T1 internet connections have become the standard in telecommunications methods for sending data thru a network router and voice data thru a telephone system from one device to another. However, an E1 circuit is being used instead of the T1 throughout the rest of the world.

T1 lines are originally developed by the Bell Labs in the 60s where the T1 internet connection is also referred as the Digital Signal 1, DS-1 or DS1. The average delivery speed of a T1 circuit is 1.544 Mbps and it also qualifies as a full-duplex kind of circuit.

Prior to the 1990s, T1 lines are used mainly by the telecommunications companies to send voice traffic between central offices. They have also been utilized for a quite a long time via cell phone carriers to connect central office switches with a lot of cellular sites all throughout the city. As of today, almost all companies and establishments use the T1 internet connections that are provided by the T1 service providers.

So much for the introduction, here are the top 3 kinds of T1 service providers:

AT&T is among the premiere and the front liners in voice, video and data communication companies all over the world, serving businesses, consumers, and government. The subordinates of AT&T supply domestic as well as international long distance, regional and local communications services and internet communications services. Having an approximate of $37 billion of revenues, AT&T has built working relationships with almost 50 million consumers and 4 billion business customers who all depend on AT&T for a higher quality of communications. AT&T has also received a lot of awards and was acknowledged for its outstanding performance and customer service.

BELL SOUTH is the communication service where the company is providing the local and long-distance voice and data services to more than 44 million subscribers in the United States and other 14 countries. This company also provides a wider array of voice, broadband data and e-commerce solutions to business customers.

BROADWING COMMUNICATIONS is a subordinate of Corvis, this company is providing innovative telecommunications solutions to businesses, enterprises, carriers as well as other service provides. Their one of a kind, all optical network has the capacity of enabling the transmission of data, voice, video as well as high capacity of bandwidth services with an unparalleled customer focus and speed.

How do T1 service providers work?

In order to understand how the T1 service providers work, then allow me to give you a brief background of how T1 lines work. Now, if ever your business owns and uses a T1 line, it just means that the phone company has brought a fiber optic line or copper inside your company that has the capacity of carrying 24 voice channels which is digitized and at the same time, it can also carry other data at rate of up to 1.544 megabits per second (Mbps).

Almost all T1 service providers work the same. They offer high speed internet connections where the circuits that are being used are not shared with other subscribers. Now, these kinds of circuits that are being provided are also composed of two parts. These two parts are the local loop which is provided and given by the local telephone company since they are the ones who are capable of putting the wire that is connected from the site to the ground. For example, if a high speed T1 is being used for an Internet service, the other end of the circuit will then be routed towards the T1 service provider that is being chosen and the Internet service will then be turned on. The other part is called the carrier circuit. The user of this T1 connection should always remember that if there is a need to troubleshoot Internet T1, he must get both the local phone company together with the T1 internet service provider on the phone all at once for them to do all the needed work on the circuit.

In other places, long distance companies who usually have the big ISP's also have their local circuits and they also are the local telecommunications provider, which is very uncommon and rare. Usually, when the user or the company decides to buy a T1 from their chosen T1 service provider, they are buying the line where the part of the circuit from the local phone company is being resold by the ISP, and then to the company, which becomes the complete T1 line. Although it can be more expensive, it will be better for the company to buy it in this kind of pattern since they can hold the ISP responsible for all the problems that may arise to the local company portion of the circuit.

A high speed T1 line that is provided by the T1 service providers have the capacity of carrying about 192,000 bytes per second which is approximately 60 times more data are being sent compared to normal residential modem. It is also exceedingly dependable, even much more dependable unlike that of the analog modem. T1 lines have the capabilities that can, more often than not, handle quite a few people. And when used for general browsing, hundreds or even thousands of users can easily share a T1 line comfortably.

Latest Developments on T1 Service Providers

Here is another latest T1 development from Cisco. The updated Cisco® T1 data service unit/channel service unit (DSU/CSU) WAN Interface Card (WIC) is now an integrated and fully managed DSU/CSU for T1 or fractional T1 service. The WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 is the updated version of the WIC-1DSU-T1, that offers and provides supported features but still with the same performance. This updated T1 WAN Interface Card with Integrated DSU/CSU makes a lot of workload easier such as Internet or Intranet Access thru reducing deployment and management tasks.

Here are the benefits of this latest feature that I am sure most of the T1 enthusiasts and fans out there can anticipate:

It has fewer devices and cables that is needed to be deployed and managed
It has a remote and local configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting with the use of Cisco IOS® Software CLI and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
It is flexible and has an investment protection
It is a Single-vendor support
It has an enhanced reliability
It can also save physical space.

The features of this Cisco® T1 data service unit/channel service unit (DSU/CSU) WAN Interface Card (WIC) would also include:

You can enjoy the T1 or fractional T1 network intereface
It has wet T1 support which is not available on WIC - 1DSU - T1
It is standards-based that includes the ANSI 1.403 and AT&T Publication which is 62411
Its full management features would include the configuration capacity for remote configuration through Telnet that comes from the Cisco IOS CLI. It also has a monitoring router and DSU/CSU can be managed with a single SNMP identity and the extensive DSU/CSU statistics are still being provided by the Cisco IOS CLI.
Finally, its troubleshooting-extensive loop backs that include manual button for network line loop backs, bit error rate tester or BERT test patterns, alarm counters as well as performance reports and all of them can be accessed via Cisco IOS CLI. There are also LEDs for carrier detection, loop back and alarm functions.

Learn more from Bettany Wire about T1 Service Providers on this website URL: http://hubpages.com/hub/t1-service-providers.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Windows XP Services Guide - Be Careful Messing With This

The proper management of services is key in ensuring that a computer will work reliably. Some of these services are needed, some may be needed after some time and others may be not. So it is upon you to check it all out and decide for yourself what services to disable, and what services to delete. If you need to do that, then it is important that you take a good look at Windows XP services guide.

Here's an example of a listing of services that are tagged as automatic as start-up type. The DHCP client and the DNS client are tagged under automatic. The event log is on automatic together with the plug and play and the print spooler. Protected storage is another service that is primed for automatic. Other notable services that are on automatic include the Remote Procedure Call, the themes, Windows Image Acquisition and the Windows Management Instrumentation. The other noteworthy services are tagged under manual mode. And these services usually include the Application Layer Gateway Service, the Application Management, Clipbook, Computer Browser, the Cryptographic Services, Machine Debug Manager, Net Logon, Network Location Awareness and the Network Connections. Also included in the services under the manual mode are the Remote Access Auto Connection Manager, the Remote Procedure Call Manager, Telephony, the Windows Installer and the Extensions. And the rest of the other services for your XP are usually under the 'disabled' mode. A quick glance of these services will include the alerter, automatic updates, help and support and a lot more. Just note that for this example of 'My Service' listing, the computer used is a standalone pc using a cable modem and perhaps multiple computers require other needs. So just to make sure, a quick check with the Windows XP services guide might be necessary. Take note as well that some of these services may not work for everyone and some services may need third party programs.

Now that you know some of the services, then it is important as well that these are managed well. Remember that using 'ms config' to disable services is not suggested. Rather what you can do is to type in 'services.msc' in the Run box. So what if you need to disable a service? Before doing that act, make sure that you perform some checks. Check out the service information regarding each one by selecting the service name links that are provided. The settings of these services are global, so this applies to all users. See the asterisk on each of the services? Then this is an indicator of changes from Service Pack 2 to Service Pack 3. The noted services are 'Standard' with the XP after installing the Service Pack 3. But if you want to be on the safe side, put the setting to 'Manual' or make sure that the listing is tagged under 'Safe'. When they are on 'Manual' mode, the Windows XP will start the services when needed. This doesn't mean that all services under 'Manual' will act that way. To be sure, place them on 'Automatic' if you want the service started.

Kris Mainieri is an accomplished Computer Tech focusing on innovative and unique ways to help people take their computing performance to a whole new level free.

For a limited time, you can claim the "Secrets That Most People Will Never Know About Computers" e-book absolutely free Windows XP Tweaks CLICK HERE!

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

A Simple and Easy Guide to Renting a Service Apartment in Bangkok, Thailand

What are the best areas of Bangkok to rent? What facilities and services can I expect from a Bangkok serviced apartment? What are the best and worst serviced apartments in Bangkok? Read on to learn the answers to these questions and much more in my simple and easy guide to renting a serviced apartment in Bangkok for both expats and travelers.

Bangkok is the Center of Southeast Asia

As the commercial center of Thailand and the hub of business and leisure travel within Southeast Asia, Bangkok has exceptional hotels of all kinds catering to the business elite and casual traveler.

Recently, a new kind of accommodation has gained favor with business executives on short stays in Bangkok--the luxury serviced apartment. With increased commercial expansion over the past several years, serviced apartments are quickly becoming the favorite choice of living style for their affordable luxury.

What is a Serviced Apartment?

The serviced part of the equation usually refers to the daily or twice weekly cleaning of your room, the furniture, kitchen amenities and so on that normal apartments do not include. Some service apartments also function as hotels, and these are called Aparthotels.

What's So Special About Bangkok Serviced Apartments?

Real estate and relocation agents believe Bangkok has the most number of sophisticated apartments the world has to offer. There are not just one or two luxurious apartments, but close to 50. This is because skilled labor is cheap in thailand, and the city itself is a major business hub for the southeast asia region.

Renting a serviced apartment in bangkok can be a daunting task for several reasons--the primary one being there are so many 'fine print' and extra costs involved when signing a weekly, monthly or yearly contract.

I have been living in Bangkok for a few years now, and have gone through several serviced apartments, learning on the way which 'services' are included and what to expect from your stay in Bangkok.

Bangkok's City Plan

The Bangkok Jungle has several meanings, one of them being that the city was never built with a city plan or urban design in mind. The city is a sprawling landscape, a montage of residential and commercial buildings juxtaposing one another. It is home to 10 to 15 million people, depending on who is arriving from the rural country and abroad. The people as well, from poor to affluent, live side by side.

The city itself is lopsided; if you look down any major road in bangkok, you will see that both sides of the road arent balanced, building heights are different, and there is an overall lack of symmetry. This is what makes Bangkok unique and charming. And what makes it a jungle.

The Best Areas To Live In Bangkok

Bangkok contains inexpensive to exclusive apartments, but the best ones are found in the following regions of Bangkok:

Sukhumvit, the main road or artery of Bangkok



Asok, one of the most exclusive and expensive areas to live



Thong Lo, the chic and fashionable street,



Sathorn, the business district of Bangkok



Silom, another business and red light district



Ploenchit, business district



Chit Lom, business district The areas listed above are all within easy access to shopping, dining, entertainment, trains, skytrains, and expressways. If you choose to live in one of these areas, you will experience life in the center of Bangkok's thriving business and shopping centres while indulging in an ultra private serviced apartment in Bangkok. I personally recommend Asok and Chit Lom, as they are the classiest areas of Bangkok, but if you are looking to be close to the night markets Silom is perfect, and Sukhumvit is always a colorful experience.

Facilities and Services of Typical Bangkok Serviced Apartments

These vary between the different types of apartments and condos, but a standard of excellence has been establlished from the increasing competition among serviced apartments. Facilities and services are upgraded regularly to keep up with rival residences. However, before investing in a serviced apartment, be sure to check if these services and facilities are available.

5 Services That Should Be Included Free of Charge:

Room Cleaning



Water/Utilities



Internet Usage



24 Hour Security



Room Service/Errand Boy
4 Facilities That Should Be Included

Restaurant



Gym



Pool



Convenience Store
The Loopholes: Length of Stay, Deposits and Electricity

If you are staying for a month or year, the serviced apartment may charge you for electricity. Make sure that you negotiate this price to 6.5 Baht/Unit. A lot of times the apartment owners will charge 8 Baht/Unit for more profit. They only pay 3 or 4 Baht/Unit.

Be careful when signing leases; most require a 2 month deposit, and if you move out before your contract is finished you forfeit this deposit.

Make sure the serviced apartment has a laundry service, either in house or out of house. Most serviced apartments have coin operated laundry rooms as well as pick up services. More deluxe suites will have washing machine in the room. Note that most places do not have dryers.

How much Should I Pay?

This is a difficult question to answer, but the more facilities a serviced apartment has, the more it will cost. If a serviced apartment has a pool, gym and also functions as a 24 hour hotel, then the monthly price will be above 30,000 Baht.

Location also has a large part to do with cost of a bangkok serviced apartment. If you are staying in an area not close to skytrain or subway access, your price will be much lower. Conversely, staying in the business districts of Silom or trendy spots like Ekkamai or Thonglor will raise your monthly rent.

Which Serviced Apartment Should I Choose?

The serviced apartment market in Bangkok is lead by three groups, The President Group, The Ascott Group, and Centre Point. Most of them offer first class accomodation and have a decent system of serving their customers. However, there are numerous independent serviced apartments to choose from.

The 2 Worst Serviced Apartments in Bangkok

Ascott Bangkok Sathorn There have been several articles written in trade journals about the decline in service at the once famous and most prestigious serviced apartment in Bangkok. Once known for attention to customer relations, their lack of it is now glaringly obvious to everyone who stays there. This place is an example of a chain serviced apartment becoming too much like a corporation with no human touch of service.
Lebua Rumor is their staff is very untrustworthy. Read the trade journals and 'google' the residence for reviews.

Top 2 Most Luxurious Bangkok Serviced Apartments

Siri Sathorn Apartments Siri Sathorn is a five-star luxury `boutique` property which epitomises private and elegant living in a residential setting. It is a concept of the perfect home which appeals to international traveller. This place caters to Japanese clientelle but of course is open to everyone.
Fraser Place Urbana Langusan They have an exclusive 45-metre driveway leading from the main road to the serviced residence for great privacy. They also have some of the best services and customer relations I have ever experienced, pampered is the only word that comes to mind

Best Value Bangkok Serviced Apartments

Silom Convent Garden Newly built in November 2006, this chic serviced apartment is located in the Silom-Sathorn area but has some of the cheapest rates for this business and night market district. For 36,000 Baht/$1000 a month you can have a 38 square meter, 1 bedroom, fully furnished luxurious apartment complete with full kitchen, washer machine, flat screen tv, and rain shower. The only drawback is the place doesn't have a pool or gym, but thats the reason the price is so low and why its one of the best values in Bangkok.

If you are still undecided whether to have a stay in Bangkok on your next trip, it was just recently announced that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) plans to make Bangkok a "paradise" city. The article from the Bangkok Post states the BMA will establish a fund to address trash, pollution and traffic problems. Now is the time to take your next vacation or business trip to Bangkok, as life couldn't get any better in the City of Angels!

This article is brought to you by Silom Convent Garden, the exclusive 44 room serviced apartments that offers tastefully decorated Studio, one, and two bedroom apartments for lease in a private living environment. Book Today and Save 10% at one of the best Serviced Apartments in Bangkok.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Local Phone Service - Before You Switch Guide

Many people lately appear to be confused as to what all these new local phone services mean to them. Yes, there are great rates and deals floating all over the place, but there are definitely some issues that need to be cleared up and some questions to be answered. Few even think to ask half the questions to the answers that will be presented here in this article.

New Service Installation

This is one of the biggest misconceptions about many of the local phone services offered out there today. The thought is that these services can be installed into their homes without any current phone service previously installed. The majority of local phone service offerings are "Switched Services", not for new installations.

A qualifying customer must first have local phone service from a Bell Carrier (SBC) or other qualifying regional carrier in place before going through a discounted provider. The services these other local phone companies provide are "Switched Services" for the sole purpose of switching you from your current provider. They in no way install new services.

DSL Lines

If you have DSL this is very important. Switching local phone service while having DSL service can cause automatic cancellation of your DSL triggering cancellation fees and discontinued service. Many switched local phone providers are aware of this and will not switch your service if DSL is present, but some may not check and this can cause quite a few problems.

If planning a switch, contact your DSL provider to see what you may be able to do. There may be different solutions negotiable with your DSL provider to enable the switching of your phone services.

There is a new DSL service that offers DSL without having to have a phone line installed. SpeakEasy offers this service and is a highly ranked DSL provider in the broadband community. This is perfect for broadband phone subscribers.

Past Due Phone Bills

Many consumers now believe with all of these new phone options that they can forget their previous obligations to the last carrier and move forward with a new one. Stop! All switched local phone providers do a check with your last local carrier before providing services. If you even have one month behind on your previous service, you more than likely will be denied. All bills must be paid up and current before you switch.

Credit Checks

All local phone providers do a credit check. While it cannot be said entirely everything they check for in your credit, you can be assured that any previous due balance to a long distance carrier will be counted against you.

If you know you have bad credit, you might want to start working on repairing it for yourself. There should be credit repair counseling services in your area that are free of charge. Take advantage of these services, credit checks are only gaining popularity and can only further limit your purchasing power as a consumer.

Phone Numbers

If you were planning on keeping your old phone number, expect to pay your current local carrier some extra charges before the switch. Costs vary, but if you don't mind carrying a new phone number then this is nothing to worry about.

One Size Bundled Services

One size doesn't always fit all, especially if you're on a budget. Almost every switched local phone provider offers lower cost alternatives to their main bundled packages. So if an unlimited long distance calling plan is too costly for you, there usually are other options that give you a preset amount of monthly minutes at a lower overall package cost.

Do your research, including on your previous bills to see what amount of local and long distance usage you typically use. If it makes sense to buy into a lower package, you can really save as long as you stay within the limits of your calling package.

Business Packages

If your business has more than 5 business lines you will not be able to switch your local phone services. However, check with the carrier to make sure. You may still find an option for your business that works for you.

PIC Freezes

If you had a PIC, which basically is a lock on your long distance service, you will need to unlock the service for it to be removed for your switched local phone package to be installed.

Hopefully this article has helped you understand what may stand in your way of switching your local phone service. While the opportunity to save and consolidate bills is great, make sure you have taken care of and understand all the above issues and you should have no problem switching to a great new level of service and features.

This article was written by Aaron Siegel of TopSavings.Net which offers Local Phone Services to both households and business.

Local Phone Providers at TopSavings.Net

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Rovi sues Hulu over program guide patents

It’s been a bad week for Hulu. Just a few days after Fox announced it will put up a pay wall around what used to be free broadcast content on the streaming site, Hulu is now being hit by a patent infringement suit from interactive programing guide vendor Rovi.

The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Delaware Thursday, revolves around three patents related to online TV program guides and search products: US Patent #6,396,546, US Patent #7,103,906 and US Patent #7,769,775. The suit seeks unspecified damages (and attorney fees!) for the alleged infringement.

One could say Rovi aggressively defends its intellectual property. Or one could also say that Rovi typically uses the threat of litigation as a starting point of licensing discussions for its IP. That seems to be the case with Hulu: In its complaint, Rovi claims it met with the web video startup as early as August 2008 to initiate licensing discussion. Hulu passed, Rovi sued.

Sometimes the strategy works: Rovi sued Toshiba over three program guide patents late last year. Earlier this year, Toshiba not only agreed to a license, but will use Rovi’s TotalGuide interactive programming guide in its televisions.

Sometimes it doesn’t: A long-running patent infringement suit against Virgin Media ended in a bit of Pyrrhic victory, as Virgin was found to infringe, but the patents in question were ruled invalid.

In any case, Hulu isn’t the only online media company that Rovi has taken to court recently. In January, it sued Amazon, and Amazon’s IMDb property over five program guide patents.

We can probably expect more of these lawsuits, as Rovi claims more than 1,100 patents related to program guides, which it has licensed to a number of distributors and consumer electronics manufacturers such as Apple, Cisco, Comcast, DirecTV, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Time Warner and Verizon.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() {FB.init({appId: 180650338636285, status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true});FB.api({method: 'links.getStats',urls: 'http://gigaom.com/video/hulu-rovi-patent-infringement/'},function(response) {jQuery('#react-fb-count-button').html(response[0].commentsbox_count);});FB.Event.subscribe('comment.create', function(response) {var ajaxurl = 'http://gigaom.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=new_fb_comment&post_id=';jQuery.get(ajaxurl + 385741);});};var e = document.createElement('script');e.type = 'text/javascript';e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js';e.async = true;document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e);

var _comscore = _comscore || []; _comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "6036014" }); (function() { var s = document.createElement("script"), el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.async = true; s.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js"; el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el); })();

Click to log in with: Not you? Remember me Submitting comment...
;(function($){$.fn.trackClick = function(){// track the clicktry {_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', this.parents('[id!=""]:first').get(0).id, 'clicked', (this.text() || this.children('img:first').attr('alt'))]);}catch (err) {}// wait a moment for the tracking to process, then follow the linksetTimeout('document.location = "' + $(this).attr('href') + '"', 200);};$('#brand-explorer a, #navigation a, .widget-wrap a').click(function () {$(this).trackClick();return false;}); })(jQuery);

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Part 2 of 5 On The Home Business Set-Up Guide

Part 2 of 5 On The Home Business Set-Up Guide

Dear Reader,

These articles will provide a step by step guide on how to start and run a home based business based on my experiences and other home business owners. This is part 2 in a series of 5 articles. They are written in a basic format and where possible main points are summarised in an attempt to be understood by all. I have tried to minimise the technical jargon as much as possible.

So lets jump right in and see what we need to know about starting and running a home based business.

Regards,

Alvin

http://www.parttimeincome.org

I publish Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If you're looking for the best rated home business opportunities, latest time saving tools and helpful support from a friend in the business, come by and a grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: http://www.parttimeincome.org

Legal Structures

The legal structure of your business is very important as it is a function of liabilities and tax deduction. The most common structures are:

§ Sole trader

§ Partnership

§ Company

§ Trust

Sole Trader

When you are a sole trader you are personally responsible and liable for the business and its activities. Commonly you may start out as a sole trader, and as you expand, you will need to seek out partners or investors. Your accountant is the best person to advise you if this is the best structure for your business.

Partnership

This arrangement is where you and your partner are liable for anything related to your business. It is a very good idea to get a solicitor to write up a partnership agreement to avoid disputes down the track.

Company

This is a legal entity liable for the debts it incurs and paying tax on income. Your accountant can help you set a company up, or you can buy one off the shelf, which may be more cost effective.

Trust

Depending on your personal circumstances, and the country you live in, trusts can be useful in business and estate planning. They can be quite complex, and again, your accountant is the best person to speak too.

Registering Your Business Name

You can operate a business under your own name or register a business name. Registration of a business name allows you to operate under that name.

Select a name for your business that describes to your customer what you do. A descriptive name promotes and advertises your business more effectively.

Licences And Permits

Depending on your municipality, you may need licences and permits. Do the right thing and check with your local council. Doing the right things now will save you a lot of unnecessary leg work later.

Insurance

Often overlooked, insurance is an important part of your risk management plan. There are two types of insurance: general insurance for loss/damage of assets and risk insurance which is your personal insurance cover.

Ensure your business insurance is separate to your personal insurance.

To establish the type and amount of insurance you need for your home based business, check with an insurance broker.

Managing Risk

You must have a risk management strategy for your business. Your SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis from article one, will show what could expose your business to loss and what actions to take to reduce that loss.

Marketing

As a home business entrepreneur, you must understand what your customers want and give it to them. You must strive to have a service or product that meets and excels your customers needs and expectations. This is what makes them come back to buy from you, and this is how you grow your profit. Try and think like your customers and you will find they want:

§ Satisfaction

§ Value for money

§ Performance

§ Reliability

§ Presentation

Don't confuse marketing with selling. In a home based business, marketing is much much more and involves all aspects of the business- pricing, advertising, customer service to sales.

Marketing Mix

Communication with your customers is essential and develops the framework for your marketing strategy. You must tell your customers these important bits of information

§ Product- describe it in full detail, its special features and of course how it will benefit the customer

§ Price - explain your pricing strategy, don't forget to consider your costs, discounts you will offer, payment policies

§ Promotion - choose the most effective for your type of business. If you don't know, think about what you would prefer if you were the customer. Eg: telemarketing, flyers, e-mail campaigns

§ Place - what place will your product be so customers can find it and contact you. How will you deliver the product to your customers? You may need to consider getting a website.

Your Business Image

Even though you are running a home based business, make sure your office is comfortable and professional in appearance. Your website also needs to project the same kind of professionalism

Location

Your home based business needs its own dedicated area. Very often the living and working areas muddle into one, not allowing you to distinguish which is for work and for play. Keeping these separate is essential for running a home business. You must ensure that all family members understand this too.

A telephone is essential in your home office as it will be the first point of contact with your clients. Installing a second phone line separate from the personal line is essential along with a cell phone, answering machine and a pager. Talk to your telecommunications company, very often they have some great packages suited to small businesses.

Furniture And Equipment

Choose furniture that is comfortable and professional. This helps distinguish this area from the rest of the household.

Your office needs equipment and here are a few to get you kick started:

§ Computer

§ Chair(S)

§ Desk

§ Fax machine

§ Filing cabinet

§ Mobile phone

§ Telephone

§ Heating/cooling

§ Lighting

I hope this article has set you on the path to create your own home based business and empower you to reach your financial destiny.

In the next article, I will cover some of the ins and outs of operating a small business from home.

I Am Making As Much Money Part Time From My Home Business As I Was Working Full Time In My 9-5 Job. Want To Hear My Story? http://www.parttimeincome.org

I publish Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If you?re looking for the best rated home business opportunities, latest time saving tools and helpful support from a friend in the business, come by and a grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: http://www.parttimeincome.org

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Writing a Business Plan - The Only Guide You Will Ever Need

Do you want your business to succeed? Of course you do. Every business looking to succeed would be wise to take a little time to create a business plan. This important document will help you in any stage of business from start up to expansion to financing a new product or idea. Writing a business plan can help your business to increase its chances of success which is especially helpful during these difficult financial times.

Writing a business plan will be a lot of work. However, you will find that the process is not that difficult once you get started. One of the most difficult parts of writing a business plan is just getting started. Of course, having some tips and guidelines to follow can be especially useful. Here are some ideas to help you as you write your business plan.

What Do I Need To Include?

Your business plan needs to demonstrate that you know what you are doing and that you understand your business. Generally this knowledge and information is broken into distinct sections. This helps you to keep your business plan organized and easy to write. Lets look at each of the nine sections in a little more depth.

Executive Summary

Since your executive summary leads your business plan, it is important that you carefully construct this first section. In fact, the executive summary is so important that it is placed directly after the title page, even before the table of contents. Many find that writing this key section works best when completed last. The executive summary serves as a synopsis of all the sections of the business plan. If you wait until the end, you will be better able to write a cohesive and complete executive summary.

Within the executive summary, you will include your company mission statement. This mission statement should not be long, probably about four sentences in length, but should be carefully instructed. Many say that the mission statement is the most important part of the overall business plan.

Since your mission statement is only a few pages long, your executive summary will allow you to further expand upon key points mentioned in the mission statement. Consider including your business history, biographies of key players, an overview of the business including locations, employees and available products and services. You can also discuss goals and future plans. Use this section to really draw in the readers.

Many find that a bulleted format is ideal for this section. This section should be easy to read and scan so that potential investors can easily get an overview of your business. The biggest mistake that many make is including too much information. Make sure that your information only encompasses one or two pages.

Market Analysis

In the second section of your business plan, you will cover the analysis of your specific market. During this section you will showcase your business' ability to succeed. Success is dependent upon accurate and complete market analysis. This section will show that you have done your research. Use this section to sell your business to potential investors. Show them how your business can succeed.

Thoroughly cover your business' market. Talk about your industry and use specific details to support your statements. Details like industry size, growth rate and customer group will help you showcase your business. Include as many details as possible. Do not fill this section with generalized information. Make sure it is industry and business specific.

In this section you should also include the results of any market research studied that your company has completed. Also briefly discuss your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. You may want to cover how your services will appeal to customers more than your competitors.

Detailed Description of the Company

After showcasing how your business can succeed in your specific market, it is time to illustrate a comprehensive picture of your business. Cover in detail your business including information regarding the type of business, the target market and how you can meet their needs and distinguishing factors that make your business unique.

Remember that each section in your business plan will overlap. This means that you may cover information more than once as you move from section to section. This is okay. Your business plan may be considered as a whole or may be viewed as individual sections. This means that each section must include all key information. Don't neglect including important information simply because you feel it has been covered in other sections.

Organization Structure/Management

This section will detail specific information regarding your staff and executive positions. Cover how your company will divide work. Who will do what jobs? How does your business management structure work? Include biographies of key business personnel including owners, board of directors, management and other company executives. You should also discuss employee compensation and benefits.

In this section you will demonstrate your company's ability to succeed through your management plan. Additionally you will help investors to realize your company's potential as far as an employer is concerned. Investors know that good, long lasting employees can help your business to succeed. Therefore they are looking for strong and effective management as well as the ability to retain and inspire employees.

Marketing

How are you going to get the word out about your business? In this section, you will detail your plan. You can also discuss how your marketing strategy will lead to growth. Be complete and detailed in your plan.

Product and Service Offerings

This section may sound like a simple list of your available products or services. While this is one aspect, there is other information that needs to be included in this section. For each service detail the specific benefits of the products and services you offer. Discuss the advantages you have over your competitors with a specific focus on products and services. Also discuss how you can expand your product and services offering as time goes on.

Funding Request/Requirements

A business plan is often a tool used to help your business secure needed funding. If this is the case, make sure you include a funding request in your business plan. Be specific. Remember that potential investors need a thorough understanding of your requests so that they can make a decision about whether or not to approve your request. Be sure that you include the following information:

• What you need immediately in terms of funding

• Funding needs over the next several years

• How the money will be spent (be specific)

• Do you want loans, investors, partners, etc?

• How you plan to repay the loan

Financial Statement

This section is often carefully considered by potential investors. It helps investors to determine the financial solvency of your company. You will not just discuss your current financial state. In this section you will cover your financial past, your current state and your goals for the future. Include income statements over the last several years, balance sheets (both prior and projected), projections and available collateral.

It can be especially effective to include charts and graphs to better illustrate your financial plan. Including graphs and charts will help investors see the growth potential for your business and will make them more likely to approve your loan. Remember that the amount of funding desired must be in accordance with your financial projections. Investors want a return on their investment and will not invest more that they will get back.

Other Information

At this point you may feel that you have covered everything. However, there is probably other information that you want to include that couldn't fit into one of the previous sections. This is the place where you will include it. You may want to list specific details in this section and then reference them in the other sections. This will keep your business plan from being cluttered with extensive details and information. Many business plans include items such as: credit reports, letters of recommendation, licensing and patent information, legal documentation, executive resumes and a list of business associates including your lawyer, accountant and business consultant.

Getting Started

You may be feeling overwhelmed at this point by the wealth of information you need to include in your business plan. Make sure you use an easy to read format. This means that you should definitely utilize headings, bullets and lists. Focus your writing to your audience. If the purpose of the business plan is getting a business loan, make sure your writing conveys this message.

How Long Should My Business Plan Be?

Try to keep your business plan between 20 and 40 pages. This may sound like an unachievable task. However, much of the finished length will be encompassed by formatting. Using bullet points, lists, charts and pictures will not only make your business plan more effective, they will help your business plan to be longer as well.

As you create your business plan, tailor your presentation to a busy professional. Assume that they will only spend 10-20 minutes perusing your plan. Make sure that you thoroughly sell your idea, needs and business during this brief time period. Further attract your audience using clear formatting, easy to read content, well thought out wording and correct spelling and grammar.

Jason Kay recommends using business plan software to assist in writing your business plan. You can read business plan software reviews to compare features and cost of the top packages to find the best one for you.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

The Long Term Business Category: A Practical Guide To New Zealand's Business Migration Criteria

NEW ZEALAND'S BUSINESS MIGRATION HISTORY

New Zealand has always been a migrant country. It's past, present and future have been politically and economically shaped by migrants.

In general terms we can see that New Zealand was "settled" by predominatly English, Scottish and Irish migrants initially and this group predominantly made New Zealand a farming community and imported English traditions.

Subsequently a wave of Croatian, Dalmatian, Yugoslavs and Polish migration from Europe shaped New Zealand's wine and fishing industries as well as small goods cheeses and meats.

Russian, Japanese and Chinese financing in joint venture with Maori industries shaped what are today some of New Zealand's major industries, aquaculture and fisheries.

Wherever we look New Zealand's growth industries and its new industries are shaped, formed and founded by new migrants with new ideas. Indeed, migrants are directly responsible for 33% of New Zealand's economic growth in this five year period.

For some time, successive New Zealand governments gained significant votes from trying to stem migration and restrict investment. This has caused a reversal of migration and an outflow of skills, capital and labour. Recognizing this, the current Government have attempted to encourage migration by making it easier to invest and do business in New Zealand.

As we can see over the course of New Zealand's business migration history, the industries that have developed and blossomed have changed over time. The New Zealand government's primary concern is that new business migrants will engage in businesses that benefit New Zealand.

This means that business ideas and business plans need to address in detail how an operation will benefit New Zealand. Before addressing this issue in detail we will look at the general framework for the Long Term Business category.

LONG TERM BUSINESS CATEGORY

General Criteria

Before contemplating whether to make an application under this category, an applicant should look at whether they meet the general criteria for business migration.

These requirements can be briefly summarized as below:

(a) Being of Good Character - An applicant should ideally have no criminal convictions or only minor convictions if they are to meet Immigration criteria [although there are provisions to have these requirements waived].

(b) Being of Good Health - An applicant should not have medical conditions that will place an undue burden on New Zealand's health system [although there are provisions to have these requirements waived].

(c) Having the requisite level of English - note this varies depending on the category but generally level 4 IELTS will suffice which is quite easy to obtain. This can in some cases be avoided if the principal applicant can demonstrate that they have an English-speaking background, or qualifications obtained in English - (it is also to be noted that family can pre-purchase English lessons to meet criteria). In reality very few applicants explore this option whereas the exceptions to the IELTS score requirement are actually very wide and should be explored in depth.

Business Criteria

It is to be noted there are no maximum or minimum capital requirements for a business and hence business plans can be approved for even the smallest business ventures.

What many forget is that the long term business visa is simply an application to be permitted to be self employed in a business in New Zealand.

Essentially, this means that the visa is granted for involvement in a business that is not of "a passive or speculative nature" i.e. the applicant must be involved in the management of the business. On some occasions that does not necessarily mean he has to live in New Zealand during the whole course of the visa.

The matters that need to be addressed are:

(a) Satisfactory evidence that there is access to sufficient capital to finance the proposal (and realistic financial forecasts). This means that the capital may be borrowed or part of a larger investment. The key is that there is proper research and evidence of the establishment and running costs and not just a speculative plan. That is why simply using an accountant for business projections does not work without serious research into the business by for example taking the running costs of similar businesses and using them as a base.

(b) Has relevant business experience - this criteria is actually rather wide since the question is of relevant experience which can mean training, education or conduct of business generally in ten parts or active involvement in a business via management.

(c) Can maintain themselves in New Zealand - many forget the importance of this criteria, sufficient funds need to be available to ensure that the applicant and their family can support themselves via accommodation, schooling etc whilst in New Zealand on a long term business visa. The living costs need to be addressed properly which will demonstrate that the applicant has sufficiently thought about them.

(d) Knows about the business and the New Zealand business environment [and 'genuinely interested in establishing a business in New Zealand"]. There are a number of good business plans and ideas that fail on this alone because the way the plan was drafted demonstrated that the person does not genuinely wish to set up a business but wishes simply to use this as an immigration vehicle. Setting up business simply for immigration is contrary to policy. Sufficient thought must be given that the business will genuinely be profitable and will be realistic. In this regard, engaging a market research consultant or firm able to analyse the viability of the business will significantly increase the prospect of success since it demonstrates that the applicant has thought about the venture seriously.

Benefit to New Zealand

The primary criterion for a Long Term Business application which cannot be stressed enough is that the main task of the immigration specialist is to determine whether the business will benefit New Zealand.

This is outlined in policy BC 4.15 as a business which promotes New Zealand's economic growth through:

1. Introducing new, or enhancing existing technology, management or technical skills;

2. Introducing new or enhancing existing products or services;

3. Creating new or expanding existing export markets;

4. Creating employment;

5. Revitalizing an existing business.

It is interesting that beyond this policy there are few written guidelines as to what is or is nota benefit to New Zealand. However it should be noted that a proper business adviser first analyses the trade figures and statistics for a particular location - for example a milk bar or dairy may be of no benefit in Auckland where there are already a number of such businesses but would be beneficial in a small town where there are no such businesses.

Indeed like in China establishing a business in Shanghai may have no economic benefit to the city's economy whereas the same business in Harbin may be considered eligible for government subsidies. The location of the business may determine its benefit in case of small to medium sized businesses involving retail, wholesale, hospitality or tourism.

Thus for example buying a run-down hotel in Auckland may bring little benefit to the economy whereas buying the only hotel in small town would revitalize the town.

In this regard surprisingly little attention is paid to New Zealand's smaller town and cities which offer an opportunity not only for investment but the possibility of close relationships with city councils who would be willing to support any venture.

As an example opening a yum cha restaurant in Auckland may not be a benefit since there are so many such restaurants, however opening a restaurant in Taumaranui would pass the test.

Many do not look at these options because they wish to live in Auckland. However there is no requirement to live at the business address, since for example the owner may be more useful operating the business from Auckland and putting staff in place to run the business at the location.

How to choose a business project that meets immigration criteria

The question of benefit to New Zealand should be looked at as a dynamic rather than a static i.e. the economy changes and businesses which may have been valuable 20 years ago have reached saturation point now.

Generally and at the risk of generalization there are numerous areas or industries which would be regarded as beneficial as an example:

Any business which tends to promote New Zealand tourism especially in growing markets such as china would be favorably looked on. There are surprisingly few operators running fishing, hunting, an eco tourism ventures designed for the Chinese market or hotels catering to the Chinese. These would almost automatically represent a boom industry for the future.

New Zealand's organic products and foods industry is growing as is the world's organic market. There is huge potential to export New Zealand organic products to China. There are a number of available consultants in this field.

New Zealand has recently indicated that it will open up its aquaculture industry. The clam waters of New Zealand combined with the success story of the mussel industry suggest a strong indication that aquaculture in areas such as eel farms, prawn farms, fish farms, mussel and oyster farms for export will be both profitable and considered beneficial to New Zealand.

New Zealanders are known as innovators, there are a number of new inventions and technologies which have immense potential that can be sourced through various databases such as trade and enterprises as well as trade expos. Such innovative companies are always looking for joint venture partners and capital. They range from novel boat and yacht design and application to new software technologies. The set up of software industries deserves special note- most people think that such projects require vast capital but in New Zealand for example the multi-million 'Trade Me' site started out at a purchase price of around $8000. Linking New Zealand products with export software applications is certainly something which is an emerging industry in New Zealand.

Much of New Zealand is underdeveloped and the development of residential and commercial property is about to commence a further boom cycle, those investing in this will be encouraged to bring in new capital and skills.

An area which is booming is English language schools and the general education sector. Industries which train a foreign language (for example Chinese schools or Kindergartens) or are involved in the education sector will be welcomed.

All of the above may appear rather capital intensive but there is absolutely no barriers to establishing small businesses. Restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, small farms, and even dairy stores have all been approved in the past.

Finally, an area we specialize in (insolvent businesses) is an area which is rarely considered. The criteria of "revitalizing an existing business" are met by acquiring and making solvent an insolvent operation.

In this economic climate many businesses fail because of lack of capital, poor management, relationship breakdowns or other matters totally unconnected with the viability of the business. In such a situation the business can be purchased for a fraction of the set up cost. Indeed sometimes the former power or receiver will allow you to purchase the business without up-front capital.

The purchase of such a business meets the criteria of benefit if some employees can be trained and the business can be saved. Further in such business the hard work of set up, figures and business analysis has already been completed. Of course only viable businesses should be looked at and that is why you need a competent business lawyer and migration specialist to source and analyse the right business for you.

The importance of communication and presentation

One issue that should not be overlooked when preparing a Long Term Business application is the importance of communication and presentation. The INZ operational manual refers to the "streamlining" of business migrants. This means that Immigration is required by policy to process applications quickly and in priority to others as well as have them assessed by Immigration Business Specialists.

In addition, it is now policy that NZIS branch managers will provide liaison services for the business immigration specialists to facilitate contact with applicants.

This means that your application needs to be made from the perspective that it will be assessed by a competent specialist, quickly and efficiently. In such matters not only is the quality of your information and ideas a must but also you or your adviser should regularly communicate with your assessor. This communication allows you to develop or modify your business plan to meet or address the concerns or suggestions of your immigration adviser.

The mistake made by many is that, they see this as a one off application process, but that is not the intention of the policy which is not only to process applications but to facilitate interaction with the applicant.

Because immigration officers understand that establishment of a business in a foreign country is a lengthy and difficult process, such communication is in fact welcomed and often the immigration specialist should be seen more as a business consultant or partner rather than simply as an assessor.

A Final Note - Flexible Criteria

What many of those looking to migrate to New Zealand are rarely advised about is that the long term business visa criterion is extremely flexible allowing migrant a number of options including:

(a) Forming a joint venture with an existing business by buying 25% or more;

(b) Buying a franchise;

(c) Buying a business which is currently insolvent and revitalising that business (this indeed represents a very cost effective entry into the market);

(d) Buying an existing business or;

(e) Establishing an completely new business;

(f) Relocate your existing business to New Zealand.

If for example you relocate a business you will be eligible to bring some of your key employees with you.

As can be seen, the above criteria offer an extremely flexible immigration policy that allows up to a 3 years visa (with subsequent residency) what many advisors and applicants fail to appreciate is that even these flexible criteria may on occasion be waived.

In BC8 it is stated

"If an applicant fails to meet policy, business immigration specialists must weigh up all the circumstances of the case to see whether an exception to policy is justified. In doing this, they will take into account any circumstances that would warrant an exception".

This means that in special circumstances, requirements such as the English language requirement can be waived. An example would be that for example the business does not require English since it may for example involve only export to China.

Business immigration criteria are necessarily complex and before a migrant applies for business migration it is strongly advised that they seek the advice of a suitably qualified professional. One thing is clear, New Zealand needs new business investment and the National government has stated that it will welcome investors in the business and entrepreneur categories. There is no time like now to apply for business migration to New Zealand.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Writing a Business Plan - A How-To Guide

Lots of people want to start their own business. One of the first things that stops these would-be entrepreneurs from realizing their ambitions is the seemingly daunting task of writing a business plan. Writing a business plan, though, is a rather easy task if you understand your business, so let's take a look at what a business plan entails.

Before we jump into drafting our business plan, we should think about why we are writing a business plan in the first place. Most business plans are used to secure financing for a business - whether it be a start-up or an existing company looking for additional capital. This financing could come from a bank, an equity or venture capital fund, friends, family or just about any other potential investor you could think of.

Another reason to write a business plan is to organize yourself, make sure you have thought through all the components of your business and make sure that it makes sense. A great idea for a product or service may not amount to a great business unless you can turn a profit through effective marketing, management of expenses, management of accounting and information systems, etc.

Things to Keep in Mind

As you write your business plan, keep in mind that your audience - whether you're currently looking for financing or not - is likely to be a potential investor. You need to communicate to investors that your company understands its business and has thought through all the risks, challenges and opportunities involved in its industry.

To communicate this understanding to investors, you should try to provide sufficient detail about your business to demonstrate your knowledge. For example, you could write something like this: "According to the ABC Trade Association, profit margins for our industry average around 25%. With the procedures we have put in place, our business can achieve 30% margins due to the increase in our operational efficiency."

There is no hard and fast rule for where or how you should add these kind of details, but using them will improve your credibility as a company.

You should also pay attention to your writing style. There is nothing to be gained by using fancy vocabulary or flowery language. In fact, such writing may cause your audience to lose sight of your business. Instead, you should write clearly and to the point so potential investors have a clear understanding of how you run your business.

The Outline

So with these ideas in mind, how should we structure our business plan? Below is one example of how a business plan can be structured. This outline contains the most commonly-used sections of a business plan but is by no means exhaustive of the areas that a particular business might need to cover.

Executive Summary

Business Highlights

Operational Overview

Market Overview

Management & Personnel

Financials

Appendix

The executive summary of your business plan should be a two to four page summary of your business plan. It should touch briefly on each area that is contained in the rest of plan and give the reader a good sense of your business even if they don't have time to read the rest of the document. You may also want to touch briefly on the history of your company and its mission and values in this section.

Hitting the Highlights

Next it's good to jump into the business highlights section. This section discusses what sets your business apart and what will lead to its success. You may want to highlight the experience of your management team, discuss the strength of your position in the market or any other factors that make your business competitive.

You may want to follow this section with a discussion of risk factors coupled with how your business mitigates or addresses these risks. Discussing risks is another opportunity to demonstrate that you understand the business and industry that you're in.

Getting Down to Business

The next section is a discussion of the operations of your company. The operational overview is usually the longest section of a business plan and usually covers the business strategy, marketing strategy, the product or service offering, management and information systems and any other components that are important to the operations of the business.

An industry or market overview is also a helpful section to have. It will give potential investors who are not familiar with your particular industry or market a better sense of the environment in which you operate.

This section may include demographic information for the market where you sell your products or services. It may include a discussion of the regulatory or legal environment for your industry. You can also include some general statistics on the industry from a credible source such as a trade association. This will lend credibility to some of the assumptions in your financial projections in the next section.

The Bottom Line

One of the last sections in a business plan is usually the financial projections. Ironically, this section might be the section you want to start with when writing your business plan. Building a financial model for your business is one of the best ways to make sure that you've thought through all the basic components of your business and that it will eventually make money.

You'll have to ask yourself several questions in the process: What are my start-up costs? How will my marketing strategy translate into revenue growth? What are my gross margins? What are my fixed costs and overhead? When will I break even? How much money will I need to raise to get started? What will my interest expenses be?

Your financial projects should consist of income statements and balance sheets. A good rule of thumb for a start-up is to show monthly income statements and balance sheets for the first two years of operations and then full-year projections for at least the first five years of operations. Depending on how long it takes your business to reach a break-even point, you may want to go out to ten years.

In addition to these financial projections, your financial section should include a discussion of your assumptions, an estimate of when your business will begin to turn a profit, key margins that you believe your business will achieve, etc. If your business is already up and running, you should include the past three years of financials instead of projections. If you have less than three years of data, you may want to forecast a few years out as well.

Finally, you may want to include an appendix where you can share additional data. You may want to add a few news articles here that highlight how quickly the economy in your market is growing. You may have some news articles on your business itself. Perhaps you have financial statements for multiple business locations that would provide more detail about your business.

How Long Should It Be?

The length of a business plan may vary depending on the type of business that it is, whether or not the business is already operating and what the business plan is to be used for. Some businesses may need a lot of technical description in order to effectively communicate how they will operate - and others are more simple.

Businesses that are already operating will be expected to provide a lot more details about their business such as the kind of accounting software they use, where their company is physically located, pictures of products or facilities, actual financial results, etc.

If a company is simply trying to organize its business and is not looking for investors, they may be able to get away with less details in their plan - although they may seek to dive into greater detail than investors might need.

A typical start-up business plan should probably run about 15-20 pages, though depending on the circumstances mentioned above, it could run a little shorter or quite a bit longer.

Setting Yourself Apart

On a final note, if you're going to start your own business, you are going pro - and you should act like it. By all means, make your business plan looks professional. It should go without saying, but carefully read and edit your plan several times before sharing it with outside parties.

You may want to consider developing a logo for your company if you don't have one already. Use pictures of your company or the products that it sells to break up the text of the document and engage the reader.

Again, these may seem like minor details, but sometimes a business plan may be the primary document a bank underwriter might have to go on as he or she is evaluating the credit quality of a loan application.

Having these details in place helps to communicate that you are serious about your business and that your business plan was not just something that you threw together a few days before because you needed it for a loan application. Know your business (or research it well), be as detailed as possible and present your company professionally, and you will have a solid business plan.

For a business plan template, visit Finance Ocean.

Or try taking a finance quiz!

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

A Guide For First Time Business Buyers

Owning your own business can be very rewarding both financially and emotionally. Business ownership provides innumerable opportunities to put ideas into action and reap the rewards (and sometimes the pain).

Buying a business, rather than starting a business from scratch, has many advantages:

The business should have established customers who will provide revenues for the business almost immediately. Unlike a start-up business that needs to find customers and take them away from another business, the business buyer must retain it's existing customers. It's always easier and less expensive to retain customers than to try to find new customers.

The business you buy will have systems in place that you do not need to invent. Although it's rare for any business to have perfect systems, the business you buy will certainly have a certain way of doing things. Business buyers should always make certain they understand why the former business owner did things BEFORE changing it. The laws of unintended consequences are inescapable. Make sure you know exactly what effect changes will have before you make changes.

Financing the Purchase of the Business

Financing a business purchase is important and should be considered carefully. For businesses valued under $2,000,000 the primary financing options are the lenders who offer Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans or the business seller.

What are the advantages or disadvantages of each?

First let's look at Seller financing.

Many books on "How to buy a business" claim that a buyer should not buy a business if the seller isn't willing to finance the sale of the business. The books often say to offer the seller 25% - 40% as a down payment then pay the balance off over 5 -10 years. The theory is that the seller who finances the sale has confidence in the business and, since the buyer owes the seller money, the seller will "help" the buyer succeed.

Makes sense, right? Not so fast. Let's look at seller financing from the perspective of a business owner who wishes to sell a good business. A seller who sells the business and finances the sale takes HUGE risks. What are the risks? First, what if the buyer ignores the seller and runs the business into the ground? What if the buyer changes the whole business operation to a model that doesn't work? What if the buyer is terrible with employees and he loses some? The "experts" say so what, the seller gets the business back and still has the buyer's down payment. Sellers of good businesses don't want the business "back". If they wanted the business back they wouldn't be selling it.

Here is another reason why a business owner who wants to sell a good business shouldn't need to finance the sale and why a buyer shouldn't want the seller to finance the deal either. SBA lenders often receive a government guarantee on a business acquisition loan (7A) of about 75%. This means an SBA lender can't lose more than 25% even if the business fails and the loan goes bad. If the seller finances the deal the seller does NOT have a 75% guarantee so seller's who finance deals should charge a lot more for financing (or selling price) to account for the increased risk compared to an SBA loan. This increase in financing costs puts more leverage on the buyer and actually INCREASES the likelihood the business will fail. That's bad for the buyer and the seller.

Another common reason for seller financing is many "experts" say that small business records are so bad that only the seller knows if the business is making a profit so a seller who is willing to finance is defacto saying the business is profitable. As always, two sides to the story. Here's an example of why this is a fallacy. Let's say Mary owns a business that does carpet cleaning and some customers pay by credit card, some by check and some cash. Let's assume for whatever reason the cash income can't be identified in the company books. The books show the business is making a marginal profit but Mary says she gets about $1,000 per week in cash that needs to be considered when judging the selling price.

The books show the business is making about $20,000 per year, Mary says she's taking another $50,000 that can't be identified in the books. That's a total of $70,000 and Mary wants to sell the business for $140,000. She'll take $64,000 down and a note for 5 years at 8%. Good deal? 2 times earnings is a good deal, seller financing is good, right? Wrong. What if Mary is lying about the $50,000? You bought the business, she has your $64,000 (which is more than the books show she makes in 3 years). So you stop making payments and Mary gets the business back. Who got the better deal, Mary or the buyer?

TIP: If a business has provable cash flow and a reasonable price AND a buyer whose financial circumstance is in order, there is an SBA lender who will provide financing. There are plenty of businesses available that have provable cash flow. Inexperienced buyers should be very, very cautious about purchasing a business where the earnings can not be ascertained with reasonable certainty.

Advantages of SBA financing

Understanding the steps in getting an SBA loan makes it clear why the buyer and seller are both generally better off if the seller does not finance a transaction.

Requirements of buyer to get an SBA loan: good credit, manageable debt relative to the ability of the buyer to service the debt, buyer income requirements BELOW that which can be provided by the buyer and business.

Requirements for business to be eligible to be purchased with SBA loan: provable earnings of business adequate to make debt payments and income to seller adequate to meet sellers's personal needs, business will likely be appraised by bank to make sure what the buyer is paying for the business is reasonable.

A buyer benefits using SBA for financing because the SBA will likely add discipline to the process for the buyer and reduce the likelihood that a buyer will make a critical mistake.

Due Diligence

Buyers - Before closing on the purchase of a business buyers should conduct adequate due diligence to ascertain if what they "think" they are buying is actually what they are buying. Due Diligence has 4 primary areas:

Industry - There is usually public information available for almost any industry. Buyers should do research to see if there are any industry issues that will positively or negatively impact the business.

Business Finances - Business buyers should retain an accountant to assist them in looking at the business books to confirm the business is earning what is claimed by the seller.

Business Operations - Before closing there is usually only so much that can be done. An important activity is to meet with the seller and discuss in detail what the seller does on a day-to-day basis so the buyer can get comfortable either filling that roll or bringing in people to fill that roll. If the seller is the guy who also repairs all the trucks then you either need to be able to repair the trucks or find someone who can!

Legal - Buyers should engage an attorney to review closing documents and make sure that the buyer understands their rights and obligations in any contracts. Good legal work BEFORE closing usually means smoother sailing after the business purchase.

Buying a business could be the best thing you ever do or maybe the worst thing. Many businesses are sold every year and the vast majority of those transactions turn out to be good for the buyer and the seller. Do your homework and you will likely be rewarded handsomely.

Copyright 2007 Daniel Elliott

Austin Business Broker

Austin Business For Sale

DAN ELLIOTT: Mr. Elliott is a Certified Business Intermediary as designated by the International Business Brokers Association. A member of the Institute of Business Appraisers,International Business Brokers Association and the M & A Source (a national organization of Merger and Acquisition specialists).Over 10 years experience in mergers, acquisitions and business sales. Experienced in representing companies with revenue up to $50,000,000. Extensive experience in Business Valuation services to determine Fair Market Values for businesses. Mr. Elliott has extensive expertise in distribution, service and manufacturing businesses.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.