Thursday, May 31, 2012

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Popular Mechanics Home Safety Show Comes to Houston June 2

Having fun with fire extinguishers at the last RAM Home Safety Prep Show?March 2012 in Northwest Arkansas.

The Reliant Center in Houston is the next stop for the RAM Home Safety Prep Show presented by Popular Mechanics. This Saturday, June 2, from 10 to 5, our cavalcade of workshops by survival gurus, first responders, and hurricane experts hits the floor of the event center.

Come and meet Mykel Hawke of Man, Woman, Wild on Discovery; Colby Donaldson of Top Shot on History Channel; and Chris Grundy of Cool Tools on the DIY Network. Popular Mechanics Senior Home Editor Roy Berendsohn will show off his ultimate disaster garage, and we'll have plenty of cool supplies and gear.

Tickets for adults are $8; kids get in free. (Save $2 with "Early" promo code; online only). For tickets and more info, go to popularmechanicshomesafety.com. The first 1000 in the door on Saturday get a PopMech T-shirt and the latest issue of Popular Mechanics, plus free duct tape and a $10 Home Depot gift card courtesy of RAM Trucks.

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Obama confers with European heads before summit

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Lady Gaga's New Album Will Be 'Insane'

'Look out for the unexpected when it comes to her,' Gaga's co-manager says of the follow-up to Born This Way.
By James Montgomery

<P>If there's one positive that <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/lady_gaga/artist.jhtml">Lady Gaga</a> fans can take from her decision to cancel a <a href="/news/articles/1685564/lady-gaga-islam-threat-indonesia-concert.jhtml">June 3 concert in Indonesia</a>, perhaps it's this: at least she'll have more time to work on her album.</P><P>Yes, though she's currently in the midst of a two-year world tour, Gaga is already hard at work on the follow-up to 2011's <i>Born This Way</i> and, according to her co-manager, she's going to push the boundaries even further this time around (which is sure to please those <a href="/news/articles/1685874/lady-gaga-indonesian-concert.jhtml">Indonesian Islamic groups</a>).</P><P>"There's a lot of work to come, [I'm] very excited about it," Vincent Herbert revealed in a <a href="http://thatgrapejuice.net/2012/05/exclusive-lady-gaga-manager-dishes-album/" target="_blank">new interview</a> with website That Grape Juice. "[It's] just [an] insane, great record. She's on tour right now, but it's just going to be a great record. Look out for the unexpected when it comes to her. We're doing it on the road right now, so it's a little hard, but it's going to be great."</P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Lady Gaga Has The Title And Concept For Her Next Album" id="vid:717202" width="415" height="255"></div><p></P><P>Herbert wouldn't reveal specifics &#8212; tentative release date, title, who she's been working with, etc. &#8212; about the new album, but the news that she's recording on the road is actually in keeping with the way she began work on <I>Born This Way,</i> when standout tracks like <a href="/news/articles/1664761/lady-gaga-marry-the-night-fernando-garibay.jhtml">"Marry The Night"</a> took shape with producer Fernando Garibay during her long-running Monster Ball Tour.</P><P>"I just kind of got on the American leg of the tour ... and she goes, 'I want to write another song that can define where I'm at with this album and my life,' " Garibay told MTV News last year. "I go back to the studio bus; I'm just working on parts ... and then, two hours later, she comes offstage and she goes, 'Do you have something to play me?' And I go, 'I do, actually.'</P><P>"So I played her the instrumental for 'Marry the Night,' and she goes, 'Open up a mic,' " Garibay continued. "She starts laying down the whole song, like, off the cuff ... right off the stage, using the energy of that crowd and going into the studio, it was amazing. I can't compare it to anything."</P><P><i>What do you hope the </i>Born This Way<i> follow-up will sound like? Tell us in the comments section!</i></P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Lady Gaga's Musical Roots" id="vid:657640" width="415" height="255"></div><p></p>

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Twitter index: Kanye West and Jay-Z debut 'No Church In The Wild' music video

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Corporate Leadership Training Programs for Improved Efficiency

Some individuals are born leaders while others need some polishing. A company that values its employees will work towards developing leadership training programs. Very often it is seen that internal relations and development is strained due to companies trying various means to reduce cost and run behind profits. However, outcasting the value of internal relation and progress can prove fatal to companies in the future. Therefore, developing leadership skills within the organization is vital.

Have you ever wondered what kind of magic does Walt Disney Company use to keep its staff friendly, cheerful, and enthusiastic? The internationally recognized leadership program was the magic behind its success.

Leadership programs are the first step towards organizational success. These programs makes the employees feel important to the business.

Such programs also help in smooth transfer of thought and ideas from one department to other.

Know your company goals:

Before beginning any leadership development program, it is always vital to clearly know the mission and vision of the company. Many companies skip this key step and later find it difficult to train new emerging leaders.

Knowing clearly the goals of the company will help you develop your expectation from the new leader. The company can lay down its expectations before the leaders for the smooth functioning and development of internal relation within the personnel.

How does leadership training program helps?

A leadership development programs helps in motivating employees, escalating their confidence level, preparing them to face challenges and enhancing their ability to solve problems and not to forget stimulate creativity.

Corporate leadership training inspires the team to work towards the fulfillment of company goals and perform best on a regular basis. It aims at producing output. Every job comes with lots of responsibilities and challenges, through such training events, you can motivate employees to meet the deadlines and deliver error free work at the end.

What does leadership development activities includes?

Training is important but the techniques employed to make it successful is very imperative. Some trainers motivate trainees through speech, whereas some follow a properly designed plan. Some of the methods employed in leadership skills development are:

  • Group tasks
  • Productivity exercises
  • Mock practices
  • Team works
  • Slide show presentation
  • Arranging workshops etc. ?

A good leadership training programs works towards bringing out the best in employees, thereby increasing their productivity. It also helps in personality development, and inculcates effective management skills.

If leadership development activities are taken seriously and managed properly, it will give out best results in the form of motivated employees, increased morale, increased productivity and positive attitude of employees.

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Perfect Home Improvement Tips, Tricks, And Treats

If you are stressed about taking care of home improvement around your house, you are not alone. Like anything else, doing a proper home improvement job requires the proper advice and information. This article contains great tips and suggestions that will help you make your next home improvement project a success.

Fix floor squeaks with a few drywall screws. While a second person waits below in the crawl space or basement, walk over your floor and locate where the squeaking is occurring. Signal to the person below where the problem is. They can insert a drywall screw through the sub floor and into the flooring to stop the squeak.

If you are planning on painting a room as part of a home improvement project, you can save money by accurately estimating the amount of paint you will need. One gallon of paint will cover about 350 square feet of wall space, unless you are painting drywall, which absorbs more paint.

An accurate estimate can prevent you from overbuying paint, which once mixed in a specific color generally can't be returned.

Stay true to the property and the neighborhood when you take on major renovations. If you live on a street of suburb ranch style homes, then putting in a colonial mansion is not going to get you the desired result you're after. It will be out of place and not something anyone else will be willing to pay for later.

If your living room is dark even though you have a lot of windows, there are ways to ensure that light will get through. Installing skylights is a great way to save on energy bills because it cuts down on the use of lamps, and it will ensure that natural lighting comes through. Choosing to paint your living room warm and inviting colors such as orange, yellow, or light brown can create a feeling of warmth and light. Make sure to decorate with light wood colored furniture instead of dark and heavy oaks.

Install ceiling fans to disperse heat and cooling better throughout your home. During the mild seasons, ceiling fans can provide all the cooling you need. Throughout the colder winter months, your ceiling fans can spread out the warm air from your heating system faster, cutting down on expensive heating costs.

When tackling a home improvement venture on your own, you need to have a reliable place that you go to get advice. If you find random information on the internet from some John Doe, you could be headed towards disaster! Large scale home improvement stores are never a bad place to start.

Make sure that only high quality supplies are used in your home improvement projects. This will ensure that the work lasts for greatest amount of time and offers the best finish. You don't want to find out a few months down the road that using a higher quality would have prevented wear and tear or easy damaging.

As was stated in this article, home improvement projects can be stressful for some people. However, if you have the right advice and information, it becomes much easier to do a home improvement project very well. Use this article's advice, and be on your way to a successful home improvement project.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Is that a legal job interview question? It's murky

Forbes Images

While asking general questions about age or religion aren't clear-cut under discrimination laws, queries about a person's disability are not allowed.

By Eve Tahmincioglu

Are you pregnant? What religion are you? How old are you?

There are certain questions most of us don?t expect hiring managers to ask during a job interview because we think they?re too personal or even illegal.

But while such inquiries aren?t always legal no-nos, they can be hazardous.

Cynthia M. applied for a job at Florida insurer, and believed she was more than qualified for the position. But during the interview she was asked about her religion and probed about her marital status.

?I was asked point-blank if I attended church and ?which one?? ? said Cynthia, who didn?t want her full name used because she feared it would hurt her continued job search. She was also asked if she had a family.?When she told the recruiter she had a daughter, the interviewer asked, ?Is that all??

?That particular?interview was very brief and there was zero response to my carefully thought-out letter I sent after the interview as a follow-up,? she explained. ?I guess he didn't like that I was a single parent.?

A reader on our Facebook page, Linda Och, wrote recently that during a phone interview for a job she was asked her birth date and age. ?I never heard from the employer again. I feel it was the cause of my not hearing about a second interview,? she maintained.

?Is this not discrimination?? she asked.

While you can?t refuse to hire someone based on a characteristic that?s protected under the nation?s labor laws, including things like religion or age, questioning a job applicant about such things by itself isn?t going to get government discrimination defenders banging down any company doors.

What happens as far as hiring decisions after the questions are asked is what ends up getting employers in legal hot water.

?Pre-employment inquires about a person's race, sex or?pregnancy, national origin,?religion?or age are not technically illegal under the laws we enforce as long as they are asked of all people,? said Justine Lisser, a spokeswoman and senior attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Dads, are you feeling pressure to do it all?

?Employment decisions made on those bases -- such as denying employment to all pregnant women, or everyone who isn't a Christian, are illegal, however,? she continued.??When investigating a charge of discrimination, the EEOC will look at these types of pre-employment inquiries as indications of discriminatory intent.?

Nigel Telman, an attorney with Proskauer, an employment law firm that represents employers, said questions related to protected categories such as age or religion may seem innocuous to some hiring managers but can end up causing problems down the line. ?An applicant who didn?t get the job can allege they told the employer something about a protected characteristic,? he noted.

Indeed, if there turns out to be a pattern pointing to discrimination against a certain group or groups, such questions may become substantiation of illegal practices.

In the case of Texas Roadhouse, questions by hiring managers about age are part of anecdotal evidence in the age-discrimination case against the restaurant chain brought by the EEOC last year.

The EEOC case alleges that managers were instructed to hire younger job applicants, and that?older unsuccessful applicants nationally were told: ?There are younger people here who can grow with the company? and ?You seem older to be applying for this job.?

Texas Roadhouse officials did not immediately return a telephone call requesting a comment.

While asking general questions about age or religion aren?t clear-cut under discrimination laws, queries about a person?s disability are not allowed.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are prohibited pre-employment inquiries about an applicant?s disability, according to the EEOC. ?

The agency states on its ?pre-employment inquires? web page that:

  • Employers generally cannot ask disability-related questions or require medical examinations until after an applicant has been given a conditional job offer.?
  • Employers are permitted to ask limited questions about reasonable accommodation if they reasonably believe that the applicant may need accommodation because of an obvious or voluntarily disclosed disability, or where the applicant has disclosed a need for accommodation.

In addition, it?s illegal to ask questions about genetic information or family medical history under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the EEOC?s Lisser pointed out.

And, she added, ?It is also illegal for an employer to advertise?for specific characteristics such as sex, age or race.??

Given that personal questions could lead to claims of bias, you?d think employers would have abandoned the practice already.

?Some managers need a reminder that these questions are hazardous to the company,? said Richard Howard, an employment attorney with Meltzer Lippe.??Hiring managers should absolutely steer clear of questions regarding age, race, religion, pregnancy, and marital status.?

Has a hiring manager ever asked you an inappropriate question related to age, race, religion, pregnancy, health, or marital status? Share your story below.?

?

?

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US officials assess storm preparations after Beryl

A crew from the Florida Department of Transportation work to clean up the debris of a tree that fell and damaged the home of Geneva Sercey in Gainesville, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday, May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Brad McClenny)

A crew from the Florida Department of Transportation work to clean up the debris of a tree that fell and damaged the home of Geneva Sercey in Gainesville, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday, May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Brad McClenny)

A truck plows through standing water on Ft. Caroline Road, just west of St. Johns Bluff Road, on Monday, May, 28, 2012 in Jacksonville, Fla. as Tropical Storm Beryl blew through town. (AP Photo/Florida Times-Union, Bruce Lipsky)

A crew from the Florida Department of Transportation work to clean up the debris of a tree that fell and damaged the home of Geneva Sercey in Gainesville, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday, May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Brad McClenny)

Jacksonville Beach lifeguards patrol the shoreline by pick-up truck as Tropical Storm Beryl blew through on Monday, May 28, 2012 in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Florida Times-Union, Bruce Lipsky)

A crew from the Florida Department of Transportation work to clean up the debris of a tree that fell and damaged the home of Geneva Sercey in Gainesville, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday, May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Brad McClenny)

(AP) ? With the official start of hurricane season coming Friday, U.S. officials are reviewing their disaster plans ? especially since a tropical storm already swept ashore this week.

While Tropical Storm Beryl left little damage after making landfall with 70 mph winds around midnight Sunday at Jacksonville, Fla., it gave the city the chance to put its natural disaster plans to the test.

"You can call it a dry run, but we were prepared," Mayor Alvin Brown said.

The city will assess the damage before deciding how much federal and state aid to seek, Brown said. About 20,000 customers remained without electricity in the city Monday evening.

Although the Atlantic's six-month storm season officially begins Friday, the season got off to an early start with Tropical Storm Alberto forming earlier in the month off the coast of South Carolina.

Then Beryl swept ashore. Beach trips, backyard barbecues and graveside Memorial Day observances got a good soaking in southeastern Georgia and northern Florida.

Jacksonville, because of its location on an inward curve in the Florida coast, rarely takes a direct hit from a tropical storm or hurricane.

"I hope this is not a sign of things to come," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. "It's quite unusual, if you look at the history of the tracks of hurricanes, that you would have one come straight into Jacksonville from the Atlantic. ... Normally the hurricanes are forming out in the Atlantic and as they come toward the coast of the United States, the Gulfstream has a tendency to turn them north."

By early Tuesday, Beryl, which had weakened to a tropical depression, had maximum sustained winds near 30 mph (45 kph). It was centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) northwest of Valdosta, Ga., and was moving north near 2 mph (4 kph).

The rainfall stopped in Savannah, Ga., and other northern parts of the Georgia coast Monday afternoon, but more was expected through Tuesday. A frontal system moving south from the Great Lakes is expected to cause the storm do a U-turn and push it back out to sea.

Beryl was expected to bring up to 10 inches of rain to parts of northern Florida to southeastern North Carolina, with some areas getting as much as a foot and a half, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday night. Forecasters said Beryl is expected to produce up to six inches of rain in eastern North Carolina and South Carolina.

Joyce Connolly and her daughters left their home in Hurricane, W.Va., to head south for a Memorial Day beach vacation ? and ended up in the center of Tropical Storm Beryl.

The storm wrecked much of Connolly's trip. She skipped a graduation ceremony because powerful winds kept her and her daughters from venturing past the beach boardwalk when the storm approached Sunday. She also postponed their drive home Monday as Beryl, downgraded to a tropical depression, continued to dump rain near the Georgia-Florida state line.

"It definitely changed our vacation to unfortunate circumstances that we're not happy with. But you just have to live with it," said Connolly, who at least found the irony of her hometown's name "pretty funny."

Beach lifeguards turned swimmers away from the ocean because of dangerous rip currents from Jacksonville to Tybee Island, Georgia's largest public beach 140 miles to the north. Skip Sasser, who oversees the island's lifeguards as its fire chief, said beach traffic was unusually thin for a holiday. The ocean was declared off-limits to swimmers for a second day in a row.

"It's been raining intermittently, so it's chased a lot of them off," Sasser said. "There was a lot of traffic this morning heading westbound out of Tybee."

Veterans groups, meanwhile, carried out outdoor Memorial Day ceremonies despite the grim forecast.

At Savannah's historic Bonaventure Cemetery ? made famous by the book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" ? American Legion members worked through a downpour to make sure its plot for veterans had a small American flag planted by each headstone.

"When we were setting up, I had a different shirt on and I got soaked to the skin. My socks and my underwear probably are, too," said Jim Grismer, commander of American Legion Post 135 in Savannah. "I had so many people trying to talk me into moving it inside. But I said then you can't have the live firing salute and the flag raising."

Aside from ruining holiday plans, the rain was welcome on the Georgia coast for bringing some relief from persistent drought. According to the state climatologist's office, as of May 1, rainfall in Savannah was 15 inches below normal for the past 12 months.

Emergency officials said minor flooding was reported near the coast, but the ground was quickly soaking up the water. And the winds had died down considerably.

"We've needed it for a long time," said Ray Parker, emergency management director for coastal McIntosh County south of Savannah, who said the worst damage came by trees falling on two homes overnight. "We were lucky that we didn't get 3 to 4 inches in 30 minutes. Most of it soaked right in before it had a chance to run off. It fell on an empty sponge."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said much progress was made repairing Beryl's damage, including removing trees and restoring power to homes and businesses.

"We're very fortunate this did not become a hurricane," he said. "If it had been a couple of months later, we could have had a Category 3 hurricane."

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Developing Team Produces Improved Business Success | Personal ...

During the early years of business, I kept hearing about the importance of developing team. I didn?t quite capture why it was necessary for someone just starting out. However, the basics were in place such as accounting, bookkeeping, and availability of legal advice.

The next big picture advice heard was to establish a succession plan. Again, just having begun my business, I thought the need for this was very far off into the future. But time has a way of advancing, goals and directions change, and new needs arise. It has become obvious that the people preaching the advice were right on target.

Team success

Today I was congratulated on the number of followers I enjoy on Twitter but I couldn?t take all of the credit. I attribute the phenomenon to the once thriving community that taught the better practices for this site. A virtual assistant was taking the same classes and researched additional information. I eventually hired her to help me grow a like-minded following on a couple of the social media sites. Those of us that were in the community began to collaborate formalizing an online team. By promoting one another we grew our followings even further.

Just as I was reviewing the concepts of creating team and succession, a good friend emailed me with her news. ?Julie? built a successful women?s organization with chapters in major cities in the United States. She also developed chapters in foreign countries, and adopted schools in Africa to send some of the proceeds to help educate the children.

Team growth and achievement

Julie and I began business about the same time, and we always seem to be having similar thoughts simultaneously. She wrote to say she is very glad that her team was built from the start. Everyone who works with her has full knowledge of her intentions for business, and are trained well on how to do their job. In addition, they are given decision-making power. Over the years, her team formed a close network. Turnover is next to non-existent. Her team and teamwork have paid off greatly in every respect including loyalty.

On the very same day as I was reviewing these concepts, Julie was advised to step away from being CEO. She is to hand the reigns over to someone on her team who is well groomed for the position. Julie will now become the Founding Member and Platform Speaker. When she speaks, Julie is both inspirational and motivational able to move audiences to new heights. I exclaimed it was brilliant advice.

In her new capacity, Julie will be able to further showcase her company and attract additional sponsors to empower the giving portion of her business. By stepping away from being CEO, a path is also being built for her to one day sell the company to another with a very strong foundation in place.

The moral of the story is to envision the final outcome of your business. How will you step out? Will you sell, hand it over to the next generation or simply walk away? Time passes quickly but your personal brand has the capacity to live on for many generations to come. Make your plan today and make it a Smooth Sale!

Author:

Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, (800) 704-1499, was honored by Open View Labs with inclusion in their international list of ?Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012.? Elinor authored the International Best-Selling book, ?Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results?, Sourcebooks and the best selling career book, ?HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews?, Career Press. She provides team sales training, private coaching and highly acclaimed inspirational keynotes for conferences. Elinor is available for consultation.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Stacey Lawson: Creating Conditions for Small Businesses to Thrive

In an economy still reeling from the effects of Wall Street speculation, promoting small businesses is a way to rebuild Main Street with the kinds of enterprises that are accountable to their communities.

Small businesses are the bedrock of the American economy. During the 2001 economic crisis, small businesses lost fewer jobs and recovered faster than large firms. From 1993 to 2009, "small firms accounted for 9.8 million of the 15 million net new private sector jobs," or "nearly two out of every three of the period's net new jobs," according to the Small Business Association Office of Advocacy in the 2011 Economic Report of the President. During periods of normal economic growth, small businesses create enough new jobs to compensate for job losses created when new companies fail.

And it shouldn't be lost on us that these new and expanding small businesses create one of the most direct paths to middle-class security. That's the path my family took. My father saved enough money to buy a dump truck that he drove himself, and then eventually grew a small trucking company -- the kind of small business that helped him buy a home and send his kids to college.

By investing in our small businesses, we invest in job growth. One of the best ways to help small businesses lift more Americans into the middle class is to remove the economic barriers that are holding small businesses back. Here's what we need to do:

1. Improve access to capital

Restoring our overall economic vitality requires expanding the credit available to small businesses to ensure that they have the resources necessary to weather economically challenging times and to invest in growth.

Small business owners have historically drawn upon home equity and credit cards, in addition to bank loans, to support their companies financially. With the collapse of the housing bubble, home equity extraction is no longer available to small business owners in the same way. In addition, nearly 80 percent of small business owners have reported that their credit card terms have changed for the worse since the economic recession -- 63 percent reported an increase in their interest rate and 41 percent reported a reduction in their credit limit. And of course, banks have become hesitant to lend to small businesses, especially at the rate they were previously.

Since the passage and implementation of the 2009 Recovery Act, lenders are starting to make loans to small businesses again, but we can do more -- starting with increasing the cap for small business loans to allow small business owners to move forward with their businesses and gain access much-needed financial resources. The government should continue to incentivize lending to small businesses and responsibly expand the lending limits to give small businesses a chance to breathe in these tough economic times.

2. Leverage government purchasing power

The federal government should leverage the trillions of dollars already being spent to create hundreds of thousands more jobs by increasing federal purchases from small businesses, particularly those with sustainable environmental and social practices.

At this point, only 23 percent of federal government contracts are required to be awarded to small businesses. With the credit crunch and a contraction in consumer demand, small businesses are seeing a double squeeze. According to a project co-sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Small Business Administration, if the federal government increased its percentage of spending with American small businesses from 23 percent to 30 percent, the result would be an additional $100 billion investment into the American economy annually -- helping to spur an increase in job growth and solidify the economic sustainability for American businesses.

3. Cultivate regional economic clusters

Across the country, we have seen the evolution of regional economic clusters like Silicon Valley. Geographic centering of research and development has been proven to increase the quality and quantity of the developments produced.

The Brookings Institution has documented this phenomenon:

"It is now broadly affirmed that strong clusters foster innovation through dense knowledge flows and spillovers, strengthen entrepreneurship by boosting new enterprise formation and start-up survival, enhance productivity, income levels, and employment growth in industries, and positively influence regional economic performance."

Regions like the North Coast have domain expertise in areas such as sustainable agriculture, food production, and natural resource utilization (e.g. forest restoration, rainwater catchment, stream rehabilitation, biomass and biofuels, to name a few). Those strengths should be used to position the region advantageously so that the resources and skills there are harnessed.

4. Foster small business workshops

One of the greatest problems for many small business owners today is the lack of guidance and support on how to weather the current period of contraction and loss.

Small business proponents have recommended the government foster programs to bring small businesses together either in a collaborative way or through workshops to provide them with information on how to navigate the rougher times. Providing information to and educating small business owners on the resources available to them can go a long way to helping to alleviate the burden of the current economic downturn. Breaking down the bureaucratic barriers in our system and bringing the information to the people can help to prevent unnecessary losses in our small business sector.

5. Address health care costs to help small businesses thrive

When a small manufacturer in Humboldt competes in the global marketplace, she is creating jobs here at home. But she has a burden many of her competitors don't carry: she must pay the ever-rising cost of health care, which makes locally made goods and services more expensive.

Recent surveys sponsored by the Small Business Majority showed just how acute the health care challenge remains. About 67 percent of small business owners surveyed in 17 states said reforming health care was urgently needed to fix the U.S. economy. Repeal of health care reform would mean an end to the measures saving billions in Medicare waste, fraud and abuse. This would result in higher taxes for employers and employees to fund Medicare, and higher taxes mean fewer jobs.

Without reform, "small businesses would pay nearly $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years in health care costs for their workers; 178,000 small business jobs, $834 billion in small business wages, and $52.1 billion in profits would be lost due to these costs."

These hard data illustrate how interconnected our economy is -- and why it is one thing to just talk about creating jobs and another thing altogether to actually create them. That's why we need leaders who actually know how to create jobs and are willing to work with both sides to implement sound economic policies for a thriving small business landscape and middle-class jobs.

From expanding the lending limits to small businesses to supporting local markets, educating small business owners and reforming health care, sponsoring efforts that help bolster this fundamental part of our economy can put America back on track.

To learn more about Stacey Lawson and our campaign for middle-class jobs, please visit www.StaceyLawson.com.

?

Follow Stacey Lawson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Stacey4Congress

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Kahne ends drought, captures first win at Hendrick

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) ? Kasey Kahne was starting to feel a little guilty.

Sure, he'd finished in the top 10 in five of the last six Sprint Cup races, but he still hadn't picked up that elusive first victory for car owner Rick Hendrick.

"Our team is solid. Our car is solid. Mr. Hendrick gives us everything we need to win races and run up front," Kahne said. "I just knew for myself I needed to step up."

And he did just that.

Kahne pulled away to victory in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night, winning NASCAR's longest race for the third time and gaining his stripes for Hendrick Motorsports the only way that matters ? taking the checkered flag.

"I never really doubted myself," Kahne said. "I was upset at some of the things that may have happened. I made a huge mistake at Phoenix, hit the wall there. But other than that, we were solid, we were fast. It was just a matter of getting past those five weeks and moving on and putting some solid races together."

The self-imposed pressure grew this week before Charlotte Motor Speedway at a party Hendrick threw to celebrate the owner's 200th career win Jimmie Johnson earned at Darlington Raceway two weeks back. Kahne was introduced as part of the current team ? after the 15 drivers who won races for Hendrick took a bow.

Hendrick then challenged him to win the Coca-Cola 600.

Despite the challenge, Hendrick could tell the losing streak was wearing on Kahne and tried to assure him that better times were ahead.

"Well, I could see that it was bothering him," Hendrick said. "A racer doesn't like to wreck a car or have bad luck. You could see it with Kenny, too. They hated to have those problems. When you can see, again, they had speed. I tried to reassure them, 'Look, we're in this for the long haul. You guys are running good. You just have to have some breaks.'"

And it was a popular victory.

Teammate Jeff Gordon rushed up to hug Kahne after the race and told him, "Proud of you."

What a roll for Hendrick Motorsports. The program was stuck on 199 victories since October. Then came Johnson's milestone win at Darlington. The five-time champion followed that with a victory in the All-Star race at Charlotte last week.

Kahne led four Hendrick cars in the top 11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth and Gordon was right behind in seventh ? only his third top 10 finish of the year. Johnson came in 11th. He was vying for more but fell from contention with a mistake on the final pit stop as he left the stall with his gas can still engaged, dragging his crew member behind.

Johnson was docked with a stop-and-go penalty that ended his chances at winning a third straight week.

"I think we're showing the consistency from all of our teams," Hendrick said. "I can't wait for the second half of the season."

Kahne crossed the finish line nearly 5 seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin. Kyle Busch was third and series points leader Greg Biffle fourth.

It was Kahne's 13th career win and first since last November in Phoenix.

Kahne's a racing gym rat who can't stay away from competition. He drives in NASCAR Truck races when the Sprint Cup series is off ? as he did at Darlington in 2011 and Rockingham this spring ? and raced this weekend in the World of Outlaws dirt track contest across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kahne led 96 laps, including the final 42. He doesn't see why the winning can't continue.

"I just know that the cars and the people we have that Mr. Hendrick gives us is everything that we need to win," Kahne said.

Danica Patrick, the first woman to drive in the race since Janet Guthrie in 1976, was five laps down in 30th ? her best finish in three career Sprint Cup races.

Car owner Chip Ganassi flew to Charlotte after celebrating Dario Franchitti's win at the Indianapolis 500 earlier Sunday. Ganassi, part of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, had hoped to double up with drivers Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya. But 250 laps in, McMurray was a lap down and Montoya two behind after needing an extra pit stop to tighten a loose wheel.

"The minute I walked into the garage, people were high-fiving me," Ganassi said. "Right now, we've got to get our cars up the grid."

It didn't happen as Montoya finished two laps down in 20th and McMurray right behind in 21st.

For much of this race, it looked as if Biffle wouldn't be caught. He led 204 laps to dominate early and was clearly best as the race began in the hot, bright sunshine. Once the night cooled off the track, Biffle was no match for Kahne.

"Kasey's car was just better at night," Biffle said.

An early crash took Patrick out of contention in the season-opening Daytona 500 and she finished 38th. Patrick returned to Sprint Cup two weeks ago at treacherous Darlington and lasted throughout at the track considered "Too Tough to Tame" and crossed the line in 31st.

Patrick's goals this week were simply to be running at the end ? and that she was. Starting 40th after a poor qualifying effort, Patrick quickly fell top laps down. But she held on throughout the long, long night.

Patrick also kept her humor. When she was cautioned by her team to keep hydrating, Patrick cracked, "Copy that. Every time you don't get an answer to a question, that's what I'm doing."

Patrick's next Sprint Cup race will be at Bristol on Aug. 25. She promised to be more aggressive upon her return.

"Now that I'm getting more comfortable in certain situations, it's time to start testing those waters and freeing the car up a little bit and seeing what we can get out of it," Patrick said.

Earnhardt had hoped to avenge last year's heartbreaking loss when he ran out of fuel 700 feet from the finish line while leading. Earnhardt came as close to second and was drag-racing Hamlin for the lead on the final restart before as the large crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway howled. Earnhardt, too, couldn't keep up with his teammate and his winless drought grew to 141 races.

NASCAR's king, career victory leader Richard Petty, had both his entries starting 1-2. But polesitter Aric Almirola quickly fell back and finished 16th. Marcos Ambrose, who started second, broke a wheel hub and ended up 32nd.

The race was the quickest ever for the 600 at 3 hours, 51 minutes, 14 seconds, nearly 5 minutes faster than the mark set in 1995.

AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli from Columbia, S.C. contributed to this report.

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Les Arcs Chalet Ermine Offers The Skiing Blog

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Apple CEO Cook's doing a good job, but Jobs 'would have lost his mind over Siri'

Steve Jobs would have "lost his mind over Siri," according to an ex Apple employee.

The ex-employee told Fortune that people at Apple are "embarrassed by Siri". Siri is Apple's voice-recognition 'PA' feature on iPhones that has come under fire recently in a series of lawsuits that claim Siri doesn't work as advertised. Siri was tagged as beta when Apple launched the iPhone 4S, and yet the company still picked it as the lead feature in its advertisements for the new phone.

Fortune has published a report that looks into the ways in which Tim Cook is changing Apple. Siri is noted as an example of a product that doesn't reflect the normal quality of Apple products (although, we'd note that there were certainly poor products released under Steve Jobs - MobileMe, for example). The report states: "The ultimate 'tell' of tectonic changes at Apple will be the quality of its products. Those looking for deficiencies have found them in Siri, a less-than-perfect product that Apple released with the rare beta label in late 2011, a signal that the service shouldn't be viewed as fully baked."

However, much of the report is very positive about Cook's impact on Apple. It notes that both Apple employees and Wall Street analysts like and respect Cook, concluding that "as Apple enters a complex new phase of its corporate history, perhaps it doesn't need a god as CEO but a mere mortal who understands how to get the job done."

The report is full of examples of how Cook has changed the lives of his employees, who seem to have got back some of the work life balance that they didn't have under Jobs. The tale of a meeting between a former Apple employee and a current Apple engineer is noted as one example. The former Apple worker assumed his friend would need to return to work following the meeting and was surprised that they had time for coffee. His conclusion: "I think people are breathing now." However, Fortune notes, "it's not necessarily a compliment."

Another example of the more positive working environment is the case of a recent "Top 100" company meeting - a tradition that gathers 100 of Apple's top executives together for presentations - which was described as "upbeat and even fun," in contrast to what it would have been under Steve Jobs. "Cook was said to be in a jovial, joke-cracking mood - a stark contrast to the grim and fearful tone Jobs engendered at the meetings," notes the report. "Participants left the Top 100 energized about Apple's near-term outlook."

Fortune also reveals that Cook "often sits down randomly with employees in the cafeteria at lunchtime," according to the Walter Isaacson biography, Jobs typically dined with Jonathan Ive.

It's not just Apple staff that are seeing the friendly face of Cook. Cook is surprising investors by actually turning up to meetings and paying attention, something that Steve Jobs wouldn't have done. According to the Fortune report, this is a "subtle but significant change" that means investors now have the CEO's ear for the first time in years.

Cook is also a hit with Wall Street, not surprisingly since the company's market value is up $140 billion since Cook took over. "Wall Street in particular has good reasons - billions of them, actually - to love the Cook regime," states the report.

Today's Apple staff dividend payment announcement may never have happened under Steve Jobs, nor might the announcement that the company would pay a dividend to all shareholders. "Jobs was opposed to dividends and stock buybacks," notes the report.

Cook's progress in China is also keeping analysts and shareholders happy. Fortune mentions Apple's strengthened relations with China. In particular Cook's visit to the Foxconn factory after Apple was criticized for working conditions there.

The report also notes Apple's investments in China, suggesting that when Apple disclosed that it was $2.6 billion assets there the number spoke to the value of the material and equipment Apple has bought on behalf of its suppliers. "Apple risks its own capital - with $110 billion in cash at last count, it has plenty to risk - as a way of financing massive upgrades in its manufacturing capabilities in Asia, even though its partners will operate the equipment."

As a result of Cook's appointment as CEO, "Apple has become slightly more open and considerably more corporate," according to Fortune.

One former engineering vice president told Fortune: "It looks like it has become a more conservative execution engine rather than a pushing-the-envelope engineering engine. I've been told that any meeting of significance is now always populated by project management and global-supply management. When I was there, engineering decided what we wanted, and it was the job of product management and supply management to go get it. It shows a shift in priority."

Another change is with mergers and acquisitions. "Steve Jobs basically ran M&A for Apple," notes the report. Today there is a department that allows Apple to "work on three deals simultaneously". There are also more staff with MBAs being employed. Fortune notes that 2,153 Apple employees reference the term "MBA" in their LinkedIn profiles, and of those, "more than half the employees who reference "MBA" have been at Apple less than two years."

The report suggests that "Cook is taking action that Apple sorely needed and employees badly wanted." It also notes that "It's almost as if he is working his way through a to-do list of long-overdue repairs the previous occupant (Jobs) refused to address for no reason other than obstinacy."

Cook is "putting his stamp on Apple" and revealing "signs of Apple becoming a more normal company".

"He seems, at the end of the day, to be honoring one of Jobs' dying requests: that Apple's management not ask "What would Steve do?" and instead do what's best for Apple," states the report, which can be read in full here.

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Debt Consolidation Maryland: Debt ... - 101 Financial Lessons

If you are considering working with a debt consolidation Maryland company to pay off your debts, take some time to get the right debt consolidation plan in order. While paying off your debts is ideal, you should make sure that you do it right. It sounds simple to say that you will use your debt consolidation loan to pay off all the credit cards loans, the medical bills and the other personal loans that you have. But, it can be an easy way to find yourself in a trap and hurting financially all over again. If you do not want to be a victim of your credit, then learn how to get a debt consolidation plan in order. Finding a debt consolidation Maryland company is easy to do and should be your first step to success.

?The best choice will be the one that offers the lowest interest rates, the best terms for the loan and the amount that you need to pay off your debts in total?


Once you do that, you should work to create a plan to get you out of debt and back where you need to be. Here are some things that you should think about when it comes to these types of loans:

??? ?First, determine who is offering you the best debt consolidation loan out there. The best choice will be the one that offers the lowest interest rates on the loan, the best terms for the loan and the amount that you need to pay off your debts in total.

??? ?Once you find the debt consolidation Maryland company to work with, it is time to make sure that they are legitimate and worth your investment. Do your homework and learn all you can about the debt consolidation loan company.

??? ?Your debt consolidation plan is in full swing. You will pay off your credit card and other debts with the money from your debt consolidation loan. Now, you need to work on what happens next.

??? ?Do not close your credit cards that you have because they do make you look better in the long run. But, put them in a bowl of water and put it in the freezer so that you can not recklessly spend on your credit cards again. This is an essential part of a successful debt consolidation plan. Don?t use your credit cards again.

??? ?Work to pay off your debt consolidation Maryland loan on a timely manner. This will help you to save money in the long run because it will help to improve your credit score. Rebuild your credit with this type of loan.

A debt consolidation loan is a great way to go for more people. It allows you to be the most out of the equity that you have in your home. Getting a debt consolidation Maryland company on track with you won?t be hard. But sticking to your debt consolidation plan may be.

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3DS Mod - Can Debtors Afford Bankruptcy? Getting LowCost ...

There looks palpably in the environment, one ominous extra load for the normal intensely indebted American debtor and customer in todays terrible nationwide economic circumstances whom will perhaps see his only recourse for some relief, in processing bankruptcy: locating low-cost bankruptcy, locating low-cost bankruptcy to afford. Meaning, basically, a non-lawyer pro se alternative.

The newest figures simply released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts about the February 2009 bankruptcy filings, made one essential reality crystal well-defined to nearly every one, mainly, which the pace where the increasingly overburdened and restive American borrowers both people and businesses are processing for bankruptcy, is at its highest degrees because the now-famous or infamous, numerous might mention! draconian changes of 2005 to the U.S. bankruptcy legislation. But, even more significantly, which the new processing rate is ominously starting to return to the older ?hated? significant bankruptcy processing degrees which the country had reached before which new legislation was passed in 2005, supposedly intended to correct and drastically curtail or reverse the then pre-existing significant processing degrees.

This newest trend in American debtor bankruptcy filings strongly underscores a some fundamental things, and others. First, the depth and gravity of the financial straights and difficulties in which the normal American customer and debtor is within today. Second, the truth which, regardless how difficult a legal challenge and obstacle the institutional powers which be the Congress, the lawyers, or the banking institutions, the courts, etc will consider to set about the route of the American borrowers to test discouraging or creating it more challenging on their behalf in seeking the bankruptcy relief from their debt problems, whenever it certainly comes time of terrible financial and economic crunch, Americans will somehow nonetheless find a method, and will nonetheless persevere and persevere even against all odds, in demanding their constitutional rights to be heard in bankruptcy; and thirdly, the critical need, for the normal debtor, for locating low-cost bankruptcy processing alternatives to attorney.

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and author of several books about bankruptcy, possibly sums up the point best this technique, alluding to the persuasion of the Congress by various special interests to pass the 2005 legislation which restricted borrowers from processing for bankruptcy: ?The credit business [and other vested interests] did its best to drive up the expense of processing [for bankruptcy]. But when families are in sufficient trouble, they will fight their technique by the paper ticket and higher attorneys fees to receive help,? adding which ?The word is now leaking out [when again] which the bankruptcy courts are open for organization.?

THE ?UNOFFICIALLY BANKRUPT DEBTORS? ? DEBTORS WHO CANT FILE BECAUSE THEY CANT AFFORD IT

But, even many importantly than which, from the standpoint of the normal bankruptcy-seeker today, this raises one fundamental concerns, still. Namely, how do the active growing navy of increasingly despairing American borrowers whom not just find to file for own or organization bankruptcy, employing a ideal deal of situations, truly NEED to file one, AFFORD to file bankruptcy ? in particular, the significant lawyers legal cost of processing for bankruptcy? How do these borrowers receive or discover low-cost bankruptcy? A bankruptcy which borrowers can relatively afford?

Some one.1 thousand one,064,000 American borrowers filed for bankruptcy this past 2008 yr ? filings which, numerous analysts are rapid to prompt us, were carried out by these borrowers in spite of, and under tough circumstances of, a whole host of stringent, restrictive needs and drastically improved legal fees imposed by the 2005 legislation. But, even more appreciable, from the stand point of the debtor or bankruptcy-seeker, is another closely relevant FACT: which, worse nonetheless, according to experts, THERES NEARLY AS MANY AMERICAN DEBTORS MORE whom were going to file for bankruptcy and are suitable, nevertheless cannot, because they just couldnt AFFORD the lawyers legal fees. These are borrowers whom Justin Harelik, a bankruptcy attorney with Price Law in Los Angeles, call the ?unofficially bankrupt debtors? ? borrowers that are all nevertheless bankrupt nevertheless just lack the lawyers hefty price to make their status official!

YEARLY NUMBER OF BANKRUPTCY FILINGS SINCE 1998
Source: creditslips.org

Year??.Bankruptcy??. Filings??? Source & Notes
1998??.1,442543???.AO data??Office of U.S. Courts
1999??.1,319,465???AO data
2000??.1,253.444???A.O data
2001??.1,492-129???AO data
2002??.1,577,561??..AO data
2003??.1,589,383???AO data
2004??.1,597,462???AO data
2005??.2,078,415???AO data??..includes spike in filings before 2005 bkr. legislation
2006??.590,544???..AACER data?Automated Access to Court Records
2007??.826,665???..AA.CER data
2008??.1,064,000???AACER data

EVEN THE LAWYERS AGREE, THEIR BIG FEES IS A PROBLEM WITH DEBTORS

In deed, though numerous bankruptcy lawyers might very which it be sugar-coated, numerous other lawyers, themselves, objectively acknowledge which the lawyers legal fees for bankruptcy is a principal frequent matter and concern to borrowers and clients in bankruptcy legislation practice.

?You need to pay the Chapter 7 legal fees upfront in money. We can be too poor to go bankrupt,? is how Professor Robert M. Lawless of the College of Illinois College of Law when set it.

Another observer, Jenny C. McCune, a contributing editor at Bankrate.com, notes which very astoundingly, weve today visit the point where a debtor will have to ?finance bankruptcy processing,? adds: ?It will sound like a Catch-22?you have no income so youre processing for bankruptcy, nevertheless you require [legal fee] income so you can file for bankruptcy.?

Jonathan Ginsburg, bankruptcy lawyer, Atlanta, Ga., explains which in phone conversations he often has with callers facing serious financial crises that are pondering potential bankruptcy, following their initial query which is often general in type, ?The upcoming query I receive must do with fees: If I have no income, how am I imagined to pay for a attorney??

LAWYERS TRADITIONAL ARGUMENT FOR THEIR HIGH FEES

Bankruptcy lawyers, schooled in the art of argumentation and also the defense of even the clearly indefensible, very whenever it centers about the security of a profitable signifies of creating a lifestyle, might often plunge into what, basically, are really deep philosophical arguments in justification of the significant fees they charge ? its nonetheless a ?bargain? for borrowers, considering the much greater sums they stand to discharge in bankruptcy; inside debtor is ?really? hard pushed sufficient by his debt load and is ?serious? regarding freeing himself of it, hell somehow discover a way; a debtor, when they are really ?severe,? can usually discover the lawyers fees someplace by, mention, withholding the installments he could have had to make to alternative creditors and then using it to pay the attorney to free him of the larger debt load, etc., etc. It is a complex web of arguments that could have to wait for a later date to address. But, for our active immediate purposes in this article, the relevant matter is crystal well-defined. The point, clearly, is that for the normal American debtor today, already bringing from the significant debt load which is the prime object hes out attempting to address by bankruptcy processing, the normal lawyers fee for bankruptcy some $2,000 or more for the best Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and $4,500+ because of its Chapter 13 counterpart is significant, in deed even excessive, and frequently is just plain beyond his signifies ? in a word, just UNAFFORDABLE.

LAWYERS FEES HAVE ?PRICED OUT? A LOT OF DEBTORS

Seems which the bankruptcy lawyers, by greed and monopolistic instinct, are slowly pricing themselves from the own bankruptcy processing organization, which truly the only realistic alternative today left to be tried, looks to be a non-lawyer low-cost bankruptcy choice.

?Surveys have demostrated which numerous attorneys have doubled their fees to cope with new needs imposed by the BAPCPA of 2005. Many thousands of borrowers have consequently been priced from attorney representation in their bankruptcies,? claims Stephen Elias, a California lawyer and bankruptcy professional and author of several books about the subject. ?Because of regulations governing the practice of legislation, truly the only legal substitute for lawyer representation is self representation? bankruptcy petition preparers can support with a forms.?

The point then is crystal well-defined. The fundamental task at hand this very minute in the field of bankruptcy, is devising a reputable system which is low-cost for processing bankruptcy, which is easy, straightforward, and easily accessible, and is, first and foremost, AFFORDABLE to many borrowers whom legitimately find or require bankruptcy and are qualified and suitable to file it is in the eligibility regulations. It is, after all, no ?gift? or some kind of ?favor? being meted out by ?the legislation,? or some kind of mercy-peddling do-gooders of the legal establishment. But, a direct sacred ideal and gift of the American Constitution.

It is a task which confronts us all, very the bankruptcy constituency and also the bankruptcy business powers-that-be whom control the active bankruptcy system ? the financial and credit business, the courts, the Congress, nevertheless including private entrepreneurs and tips people whom can come up with new or fresh tips regarding how to correct the active broken own bankruptcy system, and yes, the active bankruptcy lawyers and bar, as well as others.

But, of more immediacy and urgency in the mean time, still, whilst you await such a new system to be created by the accountable parties, qualified American entrepreneurs, institutions and entities that are able, ought to be free to come up with practical and powerful methods and techniques ? alternatives to the current all deficient and limited lawyer-controlled bankruptcy system ? which actually allow legitimate bankruptcy seekers to exercise their legitimate constitutional ideal to find the bankruptcy relief choice whenever and when essential ? just and AFFORDABLY.

IN SUM

The point is that, America, in both its public in addition to private sectors, should swiftly prepare for, and create and implement, a drastically different nevertheless powerful bankruptcy processing system which provides the active thousand plus per year and also the upcoming extra countless of bankruptcy filers whom are coming into the bankruptcy processing pipeline per year, a truly affordable signifies on their behalf to file for bankruptcy ? the one.4 thousand American filers or more which are expected to find the bankruptcy relief in 2009 calendar yr alone, and beyond.

NEED FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION?

For more about locating some low-cost nevertheless non-lawyer alternatives which you may employ to do a bankruptcy, aside from the standard lawyer-dominated processing system which is oftentimes prohibitively expensive? An alternative which will drastically reduce a cost of bankruptcy? Please visit this site: http://WWW.Afford-Bankruptcy.Com/proSeBankruptcyTrend.html

Bankruptcy Attorney Denver

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2012 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Why you Need an Autoresponder | Wanda Rawlins Online

First of all, an Autoresponder is not something to fear or avoid because of stories you might have heard about the complexity of use or people getting in trouble by using one.

The reality is that an Autoresponder is not optional, it is mandatory to online success.

Whether you use ours or one of our competitors, you simply must have a full service, ad free, reliable, powerful and easy to use Autoresponder and that is what you?ll get with 12SC.

So back to the original statement and let me
tell you why you need your own Autoresponder.

Every program on the Internet will give you what?s called a replicated capture page and tell you to go out and promote that page. As you promote it, the idea is that people will sign up to get more info and the program?s Autoresponder will follow up with your prospects.

In theory this is great, in reality it is only great for the program and here?s why.

What happens to everyone who signs up for more info and does not buy anything? I?ll tell you what happens, the program just got a free lead from you and they can send that person other offers and opportunities.

You are simply building a list for the program and you?re doing it at your expense.

This is reason number one why you need your own Autoresponder and Capture Page System like you get in 12SC.

Once you have your own capture page setup in 12SC, you get a unique URL and you take that URL and promote it, then as people subscribe into your Autoresponder, the pre-written messages that we give you will direct those people to the program of your choice.

If they sign up at your program and buy then you make money. If they sign up and don?t buy or they don?t sign up at all at the program, they are still in your Autoresponder so you can send them offers and opportunities down the road.

Whose list do you want to build, yours or the program you?re selling? Think about this for 1/10 of a second as that is all the time it takes to come to the decision that you are in business for you first and you need to build your list.

Autoresponders are more than just a mailer; they are the lifeblood of your online
business because the entire sales process starts with the Autoresponder.

Every one of the Fortune 1000 companies is using an Autoresponder.

Every person making money in network marketing, affiliate marketing, and MLM is using their Autoresponder to build their list.

Every successful online business is using an Autoresponder to build their list so they can make money in one way or another.

Why do you think Google gives free email accounts through their Gmail service? This is a list and while they might not send offers and opportunities via their email, they are still advertising to everyone who has a Gmail account.

Why do you think PayPal gives away free accounts? The more people they have in PP, the more money they can make.

Why do you think all these programs give you free replicated capture pages so you can promote their program? So they can get you to build their list for them and if you make a few dollars in commissions, that is fine as they are going to make a few hundred dollars in other sales for each name you give them.

How Can You Make Sales if You Have Nobody to Sell to?

The answer is you can?t and this is where a lot of people get lost. The ONLY way to build a list is with an Autoresponder and not having an Autoresponder is only going to cost you a lot of money, time and energy.

Some people think having an Autoresponder without something to sell is putting the cart before the horse, but this is totally wrong.

The Autoresponder and other online tools are necessary to succeed. Starting an online business without having your own Autoresponder would be like opening a restaurant without any food or dishes.

There are literally thousands of ways to use an Autoresponder, so why not start your trial account today and see for yourself how easy to use the 12SC system is going to be for you.

Technorati Tags: 12sc, autoresponders, brands, companys, listbuilding, promoting, replicated capture pages, trial account

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