Smarter Market Info

The last time you spoke with your broker did
he use any of the following words? Diversification,
Price-to-earnings ratios, discretionary trading,
lifting a leg (he’s talking to you not your
dog), leverage, divergence, fee-based
compensation, escalator clause, tactical asset
allocation and other mesmerizing words to place
you in stupefying shock.

Brokers do that to let you know that you
don’t know anything about the market and you must
allow them to make decisions for you. You don’t
know the language. You are just too dumb.
Another mushroom.

Wadda ya’ mean mushroom? Didn’t you know?
Most customers are considered mushrooms. A mushroom
is grown in the dark and fed horse manure. Now
you understand why they treat you that way.

Then try to get him to explain commission
structures of mutual funds. Oh, you’re not
allowed to ask that. You might want to read page
35 in the January 31, 2005 issue of Newsweek
magazine for an excellent breakdown of this Wall
Street scam. Maybe you better not. You will get
mad at your broker.

Another one of those big words they don’t want
to discuss is redemption fees. This is an extra
charge of as much as 2% of the amount that is
deducted from your check if you sell within a
certain period of time. Brokerage companies tell
you it is to discourage frequent short-term
trading which adds to their cost of doing
business and increases the expenses that are
charged to you every year. Having owned a
brokerage company I can tell you this is more of
that brown stuff they feed to the mushrooms.

The reason for redemption fees is to discourage
you from selling. You might take money out of
your account and that must be restricted in
every way possible.

Some of the biggest words are associated with
those special limited partnerships. These are
definitely brain twisters. You can get these in
real estate, hospital construction, oil and gas
pipe lines and the most confusing one of all is
technology. And they are all guaranteed. That
word I understand, but be sure you read the fine
print to see what is guaranteed. You remember
the old one that they give it to you in the big
print and take it away in the fine print.

How about placing a limit bid on a secondary
distribution of a special claim on residual
equity certificates? You didn’t understand that?
Believe me you don’t want to.

When you are solicited by your broker, financial
planner or anyone to buy any equity you must
clearly understand what you are buying.

If you don’t understand it don’t buy it.

Al Thomas’ book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!”
has helped thousands of people make money
and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method.
Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com
and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does
not want you to know.

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If you’re an online writer, you should definitely consider developing a website.
Perhaps you’ve been thinking about it, but you have some questions about the process…

This article will help to point you in the right direction and provide answers to questions like:

• Why should you create a site?


• What should you feature on your site?


• How do you get started?


• Who can you look to for examples?


• Where can you find resources on the web?

Writers should produce a website to tell the world they exist!

Your own special place on the Internet can offer readers, publishers, businesses, other writers and prospective clients a glimpse into your world.

Features on your site can include:

1. Your resume


2. References (with names, titles, addresses, phone numbers and/or email contacts)


3. A list of your services (what type of writing you do – creative, journalistic, academic, medical, business, marketing, public relations etc.)


4. A sampling of your writing (full text articles, reports and/or features previously published or available for free publication)


5. Links to your writings on the web (work on other websites – poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, commentary or other contributions)


6. An option for viewers to access your writings via autoresponder (see page referenced below for where to get one for free – these sites will tell you how to use autoresponders too!)

Getting started is a fairly simple process with today’s variety of free services available online. Once you have created your site, you will need to promote it on the web.

Go to this page

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art454.asp

to browse the lists of:

Free Website Providers

Free Autoresponders

Free Web Promotion Resources

Free Graphics & More

Free Tools

and you will also find links to some other writer’s websites for ideas…

© Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of the Free Ezine for Writers featuring news, reviews, and continuously updated links to the best resources for writers online like – freelancing & jobs, markets & publishers, literary agents, classes & contests, and more… Read it online at – http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art157.asp

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Being able to de-escalate one’s own and the anger of others is an important skill to have in business. Hopefully, this is not something the reader deals with on a regular basis but unfortunately most people in business encounter either their own anger or the anger of others more frequently than they would like.

In order to be successful at de-escalating anger, a person must understand and become skillful in the following areas.

Prevention Steps:

1. Recognize that anger is a choice of a wide range of behaviors that could be used to get what one needs in a situation. It is a behavior that has benefit for its user. Anger can get people the attention they need, help them escape things they don’t want to do, help them gain control over another person or situation, or pump them up when they are feeling small and insignificant.

2. The person interacting with the angry person must identify his or her own emotion at any given point in time. If the helping person is also experiencing anger, then that person will not be very effective assisting others to manage theirs.

3. When potential interventionists are experiencing anger, they must be able to change what they are doing or thinking to get their emotions under control or seek the assistance they will need to manage the situation.

4. Perform a quick self-assessment. A potential helper must ask the following questions. Can I avoid criticizing and finding fault with the angry person? Can I avoid being judgmental? Can I keep from trying to control the other person into doing something he or she doesn’t want to do? Can I keep myself removed from the conflict? Can I believe that the people using anger have the right to make decisions and choices about how they meet their needs and that they have within them the ability to make those decisions? Can I try to see the situation from the angry person’s point of view and understand what need or needs he or she is trying to satisfy? And finally, can I remember that my job is to place the healing of relationships as my primary concern?

If the listener can’t answer these questions in the affirmative, then he or she will need assistance in managing the person who is expressing anger.

5. Recognize early warning signs. Many incidents of anger could be prevented if those who are around a person about to become angry notice the subtle change in the person’s behavior. Quiet people may become agitated; while louder, more outgoing people generally become quiet and introspective. Paying attention to these subtle changes and simply commenting on the change could help the individual talk about things so he or she wouldn’t have to become angry.

Prevention goes a long way. However, there still will be times when you don’t notice the early warning signs or when your first encounter with the person occurs when they are already in an angry state.

Also, it’s possible that you will do everything right in this prevention phase and angry people will still choose anger as their best chance for getting what they want. When any of these situations occur, the listener will need to employ one or all of the five de-escalation skills.

Intervention Steps:

6. Active listening is the process of really attempting to hear, acknowledge and understand what a person is saying. It is a genuine attempt to put oneself in the other person’s situation. More than anything, this involves LISTENING! Listening means attending not only to the words the other person is saying but also the underlying emotion, as well as, the accompanying body language.

By simply providing a sounding board and a willing ear, a person’s anger can be dissipated.

7. Acknowledgement occurs when the listener is attempting to sense the emotion underlying the words a person is using and then comments on that emotion. The person may say something like, “You sound really angry right now!” By acknowledging and really trying to understand what the angry person is feeling, that person becomes able to release a lot of the aggression.

8. Agreeing—often when people are angry about something, there is at least 2 % truth in what they are saying. When attempting to diffuse someone’s anger, it is important to find that 2 % of truth and agree with it.

When someone is angry and the listener attempts to reason with the person, his or her efforts will be largely ineffective. When the listener agrees with the 2% of truth in the angry person’s tirade, he or she takes away the resistance and consequently eliminates the fuel for the fire.

9. Apologizing is a good de-escalation skill. I’m not talking about apologizing for an imaginary wrong. I am talking about sincerely apologizing for anything in the situation that was unjust. It’s simply a statement acknowledging that something occurred that wasn’t right or fair.

This can have the effect of letting angry people know that the listener is sincerely sorry for what they are going through and they may cease to direct their anger at the person attempting to help.

10. Inviting criticism is the final of the de-escalation skills. In this instance the listener would simply ask the angry person to voice his or her criticism of the listener or the situation. The person intervening might say something like, “Go ahead. Tell me everything that has you upset. Don’t hold anything back. I want to hear everything you are angry about.”

This invitation will sometimes temporarily intensify the angry emotion but if the listener continues to encourage the person to vent his or her anger and frustration, eventually, the angry person runs out of complaints. Just let the angry person vent until the anger is spent.

Even when using the above ten skills, there may be a rare occasion when the listener is unsuccessful in the attempts to decrease the other person’s anger. The listener’s safety should be the primary concern. The listener should not get between the angry person and his or her only means of escape and shouldn’t allow the angry person to block the listener’s only means of escape.

Anyone intervening in an emotionally charged situation should always have a plan or an established way to get help if needed and remember to always stay calm. An angry person is generally someone capable of getting out of control. When out of control people sense they are intimidating and scaring others, it can increase their sense of power and control, resulting in an escalation of the situation. The helpers must stay calm and act as if they are in control of themselves and the situation.

Should you want Coaching for Excellence to provide staff development for your employees in de-escalation skills, simply contact Kim at 708-957-6047, email her at Kim@CoachingforExcellence.biz or log on to the website at http://www.coachingforexcellence.biz.

Kim Olver has an undergraduate degree in psychology, a graduate degree in counseling, is a National Certified Counselor and is a licensed professional counselor. Since 1987, Kim has extensively studied the work of Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory, Reality Therapy and Lead Management. She was certified in Reality Therapy in 1992 and continued her studies to become a certified instructor for the William Glasser Institute. She is an expert at empowering people to navigate the sometimes difficult course of life—teaching them how to get the most out of the circumstances life provides them. Her website, http://www.CoachingforExcellence.biz, offers free chats, assessments, a blog and an eZine, as well as workshops, teleclasses, e-courses, counseling and coaching. Visit her website at http://www.CoachingforExcellence.biz or contact her at (708) 957-6047.

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The Motorola KRZR K1 is available has proved a really successful Flip mobile handset since its first appearance. The Motorola KRZR K1 has a outstanding feel to it, and we really liked its cutting edge sleek styling. The KRZR K1 is an entry level phone and, when compared to some of the more well known models at this price it is basic but functional.

The Motorola KRZR K1 comes equipped with bluetooth, for convenient compatibility with a great deal of accessories. The battery supplied with the KRZR K1 is a Standard battery, Li-Ion 700 mAh (BC50),. Getting on to the all important battery duration the Motorola KRZR K1 has 300 hrs reserve charge and 6:00 talk time. The Motorola KRZR K1 can be bought in, Cosmic Blue and Silver Sail. Compared to competitors phones the Motorola KRZR K1 is very compact easily fitting into ones pocket. The Motorola KRZR K1 weighs in at 102 g, The display is a TFT, 256K colors. The KRZR K1 is compatible with 2G GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 . A 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, video(CIF) is integrated into this mobile phone camera. A WAP 2.0/xHTML compatible browser is also included allowing mobile Internet access. The ring-tones on the KRZR K1 are Polyphonic, MP3 including a vibrating alert . There are also a number of additional features included with the Motorola KRZR K1 such as:

This is now quite an old mobile handset, but still does a great job. If you come across one, being cleared as old stock you may get yourself a really good deal.

Because of the web it has never been quicker or cheaper to buy a mobile phone. To find out which are the best deals try using a mobile phone comparison site to compare tariffs on the Motorola KRZR K1 .

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Procuring a diamond engagement ring is one of most important pre-marriage events for you and your fiancé. The whole process can be very confusing, with “X” dollars as the budget -

* What to buy? A large diamond or a smaller one with better quality.

* How to assess the color?

* How to assess the cut?

* What is a solitaire? Should you buy one?

The following factors and suggestions can be considered before you make a purchase:

1. Try and educate yourself before you go to buy a diamond, especially on the color, clarity, cut and carat factors. Do a little of window shopping to get to know the current styles and designs.

2. A diamond’s cut is the most important factor to be considered since it affects the diamond’s cost, beauty and durability. The diamond’s sparkle depends upon its cut, since it changes the refractivity of the diamond. Thin cuts make lifeless diamonds. A well cut diamond can fetch upto twice the actual value of the stone. A wrong or faulty cut can make or break the diamond.

3. Clarity as commonly believed does not affect the sparkle of the diamond. Clarity does not have any effect on beauty of the diamond.

4. Diamonds cost more when purchased in full carat values. A diamond of 0.9 carat costs mush less than a diamond of 1 carat and a diamond of 1.9 carats costs much lesser than a diamond of 1.9 carats and so on. Choosing a diamond of 0.9 or 1.9 carats would be a great way to get value for money.

5. While choosing the size, look to alternate shapes rather than a round one. A round diamond tends to look smaller. Oval or pear shaped diamonds of the same carat value look bigger than the round ones.

6. Choose a design that has more number of smaller stones in good setting. They tend to cost less.

7. Considerations of color can be set aside when you set the diamond in white gold or platinum. A colorless diamond can be very expensive, so choose the base metal according to the color of the stone.

A diamond as generally believed need not be flawless. A flaw does not decrease its value or beauty. If a diamond is properly cut, flaws will not be visible. For that matter, nothing ever is perfect.

Despite a host of varieties available, diamond engagement rings always makes your fiancée the happiest.

Despite a host of
varieties available,

diamond engagement rings always makes your fiancée the happiest.

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Most legally blind people 76 percent do not use computers. While Apple Mac OS X includes VoiceOver, a more feature-rich screen reader. Therefore, using a screen reader is, according to some users, considerably more difficult than using a GUI and many applications have specific problems resulting from the nature of the application. There are also open source screen readers, such as the Linux Screen Reader for GNOME and NonVisual Desktop Access for Windows.

Only a small fraction of this population, when compared to the sighted community, have Internet access.

Increasingly, screen readers are being bundled with operating system distributions. The primary audience for such applications is those who have difficulty reading because of learning disabilities or language barriers. Experimental approaches in sensory substitution are beginning to provide access to arbitrary live views from a camera.

Comming season Anthony Loeff nonprofit volunteer is reporting screen readers for The console-based Oralux Linux distribution ships with three screen-reading environments: Emacspeak, Yasr and Speakup. The Macintosh OS also comes with a built-in screen reader, called VoiceOver. A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen. Later versions of Microsoft Windows include an Accessibility Wizard and Magnifier for those with partial vision, and Microsoft Narrator, a simple screen reader. Recent versions of Microsoft Windows come with the rather basic Narrator. Screen readers are a form of assistive technology potentially useful to people who are blind, visually impaired, or learning disabled, often in combination with other AT such as screen magnifiers. The movement towards greater web accessibility is opening a far wider number of websites to adaptive technology, making the web a more inviting place for visually impaired surfers. Screen readers can be assumed to be able to access all display content that is not intrinsically inaccessible.

Almost 21 percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. Nevertheless functionality remains limited compared to equivalent desktop applications, the major benefit is to increase the accessibility of said websites.

Screen reader choice is contentious: differing priorities and strong preferences are common. Linux distributions for the blind include Oralux and Adriane Knoppix. Access technology such as screen readers and Screen magnifiers enable the blind to use mainstream computer applications. Web browsers, word processors, icons and windows and email programs are just some of the applications used successfully by screen reader users. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. This interpretation is then represented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a braille output. A persons choice of screen reader is dictated by many factors, including platform and the role of organizations like charities, schools, and employers.

The latter developed in part by Knopper who has a visual impairment. The open source GNOME desktop environment long included Gnopernicus and now includes Orca.

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Hook up men’s dominant leisure actvities and what you will bare is a rage we call a Web sportsbook. And seriously: what could be more original? If you envision a mix of sports fanatics clapping for any given chosen club, and regularly antes are certain to be placed accompanying the clamor. Wishing to catch a bit of the action, spectators generally seek to infer who is the likeliest to prevail in the upcoming race. Put together, this all will develop into a warmhearted, amicable race named Web sportsbook.

Agreed it might easily appear to be addictive but wagering sportsbooks is, in reality, merely for fun and of bonding with buddies. Here, you’ll be able to wager a any minor amount of moolah and nevertheless enjoy a outstanding time. Further to this, here are various basic words of wisdom to help you get started wagering sportsbooks.

In order to place that bet, you’ll probably want to drop by at a Web sportsbook, which is a place that receives Web sportsbook. In the U.S.A., there’s currently no less than four states where we can go for wagering sportsbooks lawfully, but illegally you can do it anyplace assuming that you are able to find a bookie and you happen to be of legal age. Covered track-and-field events you have a choice of betting on are pro as well as, of course, college football + basketball, professional baseball, professional hockey, as well as, of course, betting on both dog and horse racing. Punters will have the option of betting on the general combined score of a fight or game, at which point an opponent will be vanquished, and even if a given tossed coin in a fight or game comes out heads or tails.

The bookies bank on their figures to aid you guess which club you believe is the likeliest to prevail. For starters, there’s chances, or leverage allocated to a trailing party presumed to take a licking by X number points. Plainly, this is the sportsbook company’s official methodology of making impartial antes possible for a Sportsbook. For instance a client could choose to risk money on a team presumed to take a licking and and nevertheless win that wager assuming that the party is actually defeated by X number of points.

We can select many breeds of bets, the straight being the most typical in wagering sportsbooks.

Why not just have a crack at it and enjoy the fun at one fell swoop? Just remember to ensure that you won’t get too enthusiastic and expend your total pension plan on a vagary… Otherwise you just might find yourself regretting it for life…

Get in on the best sports betting online web site action on the web!

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According to a Recent article in the St Louis Post Dispatch Ebay has grown to over 34 Billion Dollars in annual sales volume. That same St Louis Post Dispatch article went on to say over 2.2 Million Americans sell on Ebay. (Many as their Primary Source of income). Ebay is truly the home based business of choice for the new Millennium.

One of the biggest reason given by people for not starting an EBay business is lack of items to sell. While it is highly advisable to have multiple suppliers their is an Ebay supplier that stands above the rest especially for the new Ebay Entrepreneur.

Some of the features that set the Ultimate Ebay Supplier apart

1 – Drop Shipper

You don’t need to stock inventory or even pay in advance. As you are paid for the orders you forward them to the supplier and they pack and ship the item direct from their warehouse to your customer

2 – Products

Over 90,000 Products for you to choose from at wholesale prices

3 – One Click Ebay Integration

The Product descriptions, pictures and titles are already in place simply point and click and your Auction is automatically uploaded to Ebay.

4 – Auto Profits 24/7

The Ultimate Ebay Supplier will have your Ebay Auctions creating income and generating profits for you 24hours a days, 7 days a week, 365 Days a year.

The Ultimate Ebay Supplier
The Only Ebay Supplier you may ever need. Over 90,000 products to sell complete with Pictures and Descriptions. Just point and click and your auctions are automatically uploaded to EBay
http://ewguru.com/ebay-dropship

Make money with eBay and online auctions. step-by-step system for making money at home with online auctions. Learn how new step-by-step “How-To” Video. Start today!

http://ewguru.com/ebayvideo

Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler

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The way I hear it, the “typical” annual rate of inventory shrinkage in the retail industry is in the order of 3 to 5% – let’s split the difference and say 4%. “Industry Experts” (whoever they are…) suggest that of that total inventory shrinkage, 50% is due to external theft; 30% is due to internal theft; and 20% is due to “messed up paperwork”. Other reasons for business losses, such as breakage, robbery, and vandalism, are separate problems that we’re not going to deal with here.

Do the math in your head – what’s 4% of all the stock you’ve ordered this year worth? Pretty grim numbers. If you’re still with me, I’d like to suggest a way to reduce these figures by almost half – a way to reduce inventory shrinkage to a more manageable 2%! I work for a company that develops an integrated point of sale software system that ties together the front end point of sale with inventory control and back-end accounting, so it should come as no surprise that I’m going to suggest such a system as a solution to reduce inventory shrinkage. Many of our clients have reported a dramatic savings, enough to pay for the software and then some in less than a year.

What I’m not going to do is suggest that our Windward System Five is the only quality product that does what I’m going to cover – so do your homework and consider any POS system that measures up. A good Point of Sale system can help eliminate internal theft and “messed up paperwork” that accounts for 50% of the total inventory shrinkage.

In this article, I’m going to show how a Point of Sale system can be used to reduce internal theft by using various positive measures. Following articles will deal with reducing internal theft through increased security measures, while the last article will address how eliminating the “paperwork mess” can help reduce inventory shrinkage.

“Why would my staff steal from me!” you say? The retail industry attracts unskilled workers, often at minimum wage. Some will be tempted steal, for whatever reasons. What we will try to do is shift the Risk/Benefit ratio to a point where the risk of being promptly caught is much greater than the minimal benefits they can gain. Think of it as the ol’ “carrot and the stick” approach. The “carrot” includes things like fair compensation, a good working environment, employer-sponsored activities that improve morale, good communication and concern for the success of a company.

The only way to reach some employees is through a “stick” of an effective security program and a straightforward policy of prosecuting any employee caught stealing. A good Point of Sale system should balance between carrots and sticks. This article will out line some carrots, while the next in the series will be the sticks. Note: Any additional cost from “carrots” will be more than made up by savings from reduced inventory shrinkage.

• Reward good salespeople by paying commissions. Even a small percentage sends a good message. Your Point of Sale system should be able to easily track and report on commission sales

• People like discounts, and to save yourself from the “five fingered discounts”, set an Employee pricing level for some or all of your inventory. Your POS should help identify the profitability of inventory items, letting you set a variety of pricing levels. You can even expand on this by allowing staff to sell a certain amount of inventory at Employee discounts to friends and family (it does wonders for their ego). Monitor these amounts through your POS

• Move old stock and improve staff morale with the use of SPIFs (Sales Promotion Incentive Fund). A couple of movie tickets or a gift certificate awarded with a little bit of ceremony can go a long way. Any cost is more than made up by having moved stale inventory. Your POS should be able to easily report on specified SPIF-eligible sales

• Profit sharing is the quickest way to make all staff feel they have a vested interest in making the company profitable. Think about re-investing the money saved from a successful inventory shrinkage reduction program back in to the company in the way of a profit sharing program. Your POS system should integrate fully with an Accounting backend, so profit can be monitored on an ongoing basis, rather than a month or two after year-end

• Good communication goes a long way to make staff feel they’re part of the company. Use the CRM part of your POS to keep track of employee birthdays and special events. Use the e-mail features to keep in touch with all the staff

Jim Hawkins works at Windward Software, developers of Point of Sale software, and is passionate about promoting “best practices” in business. For more information about how Windward Software can help your business improve its processes, visit us at http://wws5.com

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