Biz Tone

CRM Applications

2011-12-11T23:31:00.001-08:00

Customer relationship management is a vitaltask for any business as, without customers, the vast majority of companieswould not be able to survive. CRM can often be labour-intensive and involvesspending resources on customer service and other aspects of the business toensure the best possible customer experience possible. However, it is possibleto make some parts of CRM more efficient and easier to manage. A good exampleof this is CRM software, which has several importantapplications that can benefit companies of all sizes.

Knowyour customers

As you might expect from the name, one ofthe main applications ofCRM software is to enable businesses to get to know their customers better.For instance, which customers use the business most frequently? Who are themost profitable customers? What do they buy? Which are your most popularproducts? Do they respond to marketing or special money off promotions?

Knowing information such as this about yourcustomers can help you to tailor your business to them better, which can inturn help you to generate more revenue as a result.

Developmarketing

Linked to this is the issue of marketing,which is something else that good CRMsystems can help you with. For instance, one you know who your mostprofitable customers are, you will be able to use that information to developmore targeted marketing campaigns that are likely to appeal to them. If you knowwhat they tend to buy and the kind of money they are willing to spend on thoseitems, you can develop campaigns especially for them – and it can even give youa better idea of where you might like to take your product line or how todevelop your services in the future, so it’s definitely worth considering.

Carryout regular processes

Another benefit of having a CRM system isthat it can carry out regular processes for you. Just as you can use payroll software to carryout calculations and make sure payslips go out on time every month, so you canalso use CRM software for similar purposes. As an example, email newslettersare a common marketing tool used by millions of businesses, as they provide agood way of contacting a large group of customers at the same time.

CRM systems often come with usefultemplates that you can use for your newsletters, as well as enabling you to setup email lists of contacts you want your correspondence to go to, making the wholeprocess much faster than it would otherwise be.

Trackresults and ROI

CRM solutions also enable businesses totrack the results of their actions. This is arguably one of its most importantapplications as learning from the results of previous activity is vital whenbusinesses are looking to move forward. For example, you can use CRM softwareto compare sales results before and after a marketing to campaign to determinewhether you have got a good return on your investment. At a time when everypenny counts in business, this is certainly one application of CRM solutionsthat all businesses are sure to appreciate.

Benefits of Compliance Training

2011-10-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

Regardless of the current economic and regulatory climate, compliance training should be a key priority of all organisations. Prioritising compliance leads to improvements in many aspects of any organisation: from workplace culture, staff motivation, efficiency, avoiding legal violations and issues, encouraging transparency, and reducing business risk. Compliance can support any organisation in ensuring that it meets legal obligations and standards. In this article, we take a closer look at how compliance training benefits organisations in many ways.

1. Encouraging a Better Workplace Culture
Employees who understand expectations, obligations, and standards, toward their role, their clients, as well as their colleagues will tend to be more confident and respectful. While these issues may be covered during induction training, these programs tend to be superficial and lack specificity. Providing adequate training lets staff know that their development is being taken seriously, and properly integrated into the rest of your organisation. It may also help set the tone for better workplace culture.

2. Matching the Pace of Change
Businesses run the risk of violating the law if they fail to keep up with the latest changes, particularly in industries subject to frequent regulatory change. For this reason, many organisations opt for at least annual or semi-annual training programs to keep staff well-informed.

3. Business Efficiency and Productivity
In any organisation, staff knowledge and skills are a key driving force for business efficiency and productivity. In some industries, such as financial services and other specialist industries that are subject to complex regulation, compliance can be crucial to productivity.

Productivity is improved when senior managers and staff can act confidently and make the correct decisions. Keeping staff well trained with respect to compliance also assists in making sure that the organisation as a whole avoids costly errors which can result in fines or other legal sanctions.

4. Standardisation and Uniformity
Compliance training encourages standardisation and uniformity across the organisation. Whether it’s reflected the product, the advice, or a key process, clients appreciate consistency. Furthermore, at more general level, a high degree of standardisation and uniformity will assist with legal compliance and business strategy.

As compliance can reach into so many areas of the organisation, effective compliance training can result in employee behaviour and decision making that more closely reflects the company mission.

5. Transparency

Transparency through reporting

Uniformity and adhering to procedures as a matter of compliance tends to encourage transparency within any organisation. Whether it’s a process, operational, in areas such as record management, reporting, occupation health and safety, or client privacy, employee behaviour and decision making tends to be much more transparent, and is more readily tracked where there is a compliance training program in place.

6. Risk Management

Learning Management System

Compliance is not least among factors that can affect to business or organisational risk. As the labour force is a central area of any organisation and compliance has such a broad reach, good compliance training programs can help significantly reduce risk. Exposure to risk arising from the production process, product or service delivery, information management, customer relations – these are just some of the sources of risk that can be effectively managed by addressing compliance. Clearly, compliance training programs, which can be delivered via flexible learning management system, can bring benefits at all levels to organisations.

5 Places to Invest

2011-10-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

*Please note: Investment advice is a reflection of the opinion of the guest poster and not blog admin. Blog admin recommends you consult a qualified professional for your investment advice.

Finances have been tight globally over thepast year and a half, but as the markets pick up again it is time to reconsiderwhere your money is invested. This brief article will explain some of thewisest investments you can make from fixed rate bonds to property investment.

1. Buy a property

The best, but least flexible, way to investyour money is by putting it into property. Investing in bricks and mortar willpractically guarantee a steady rate of return if you invest wisely. Make sureyou utilise propertyvaluation software and do your research on the area and the property beforeinvesting because a wise investment will provide much larger returns. Thisoption will tie up your money for a long-term period but will enable you toreap large benefits.

2. Get a fixed rate bond

If you are able to tie some of your moneyup for a long-term period then getting a fixed rate bond is a very wiseinvestment. Generally the interest rates on a fixed rate bond will be farhigher than in an easy access account and it will enable you to earn some extramoney whilst your cash sits safely.
Opting for a one or two year bond is thebest option in the current climate because it will enable you to reconsiderafter a period of time and see if there are better and more competitive ratesavailable to you. There are also options for Christmas bondswhich will allow you access to your money in time for the Christmas expenditureon December 1^st. Whilst this will have a slightly lower rate ofinterest it will enable you to earn some more value over a short period of timewithout limiting your chance for celebrations at the end of the year.

3. Get the best easy access savings account

If you are unable to tie your money up forlong periods of time for any reason then it is prudent to shop around for thebest easy access account. There is huge variation between the offers of banksand the interest rates for easy access savings accounts.

This account will provide you with a betterrate of interest than a normal credit or savings account and will still enableyou to get easy access to your funds. Be sure to shop around for the best dealbecause you will be able to find options which are dramatically better thanother offers.

4.Get the best current account

It is almost unbelievable but you cansometimes get a better rate of interest on some current accounts than you caneven on savings accounts. There is often variation on interest depending on theamount of funds you have in any particular account. It can make the differencebetween 3.5% and 0.1% interest returns on your money. Often there will be a caparound $3,000 - $5,000 at which point the interest rate will drop dramatically.Be sure to make note of the limits and remain within them to ensure the bestreturns on your cash.

5. Get an index tracking fund

An index tracking fund will automaticallyinvest in the top 100 stocks in the market of your choice. If the stocks risethen so will your fund but if it drops then so will the value of your fund.This is a higher risk of investment but can potentially see excellent returnson your investment.

Auto Insurance Savings for College Students

2011-08-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

The National Association of Insurance Companies (NAIC) has some good advice for parents: Make sure your college-bound children’s cars have auto insurance policies when they are away at college. Much of the time, this is not the case. Many parents have and their tenens have rude awakenings when the insurance company denies a claim for no coverage or a policy exclusion. This is not something you'd expect when paying so much to send your kids to college.

College Homework Brings Insurance Savings

It can be so expensive to insure college-age children. They are in an age group that has one of the highest incidences of auto accidents, and insurance companies tend to charge high premiums because of it. Even though this is true, college students can find great auto insurance rates if they do their homework.

It may be cheaper to buy a policy for a college student in the town where they will be living. Try getting insurance quotes in the college's zip code. It might be smarter to have your child establish residency in the town where they attend school. If it turns out it would be more cost-effective to keep children on their hometown policies, take the time to ensure coverage extends to other states as well. Every state has its own minimum insurance requirements, so you need to be sure your policy carries enough coverage to meet those minimums. For instance, if your child attends school in New York, chances are the minimum liability limits in your state are not enough to meet the limits required there.

Good Grades Reduce Premiums

Now you have another reason to pester your kids about good grades. College students who maintain a grade point average of “B” (3.0) or better often benefit from good student discounts. Throughout the year, parents must ensure that their children are receiving these grades to consistently receive this discount. If you intend on buying a new policy, you should look for companies that offer accident forgiveness plans. These plans will forgive the fact that a college student has been in one accident and refrain from raising the rates. Even if your child has not had an accident yet, remember that "yet" is the operative word. Young adults are likely to have accidents.

Give Your Kid the Clunker

If you have an older car in the household, make sure you offer it to your college-bound child. It is much cheaper to insure college students with older vehicles than new ones, because these vehicles cost less to repair. Older cars also give parents the option of dropping comprehensive and collision coverage. You usually don't need them because it would cost more to pay premiums than to buy another late model car if that one was ever totaled.

Low Mileage

The discount that parents should look for most is the low mileage discount. If college students will only be driving their families’ vehicles while home on vacations, this will qualify them for the discount. College campuses also tend to be all-purpose places. The students may not have much reason to leave the campus, so they don't drive as many miles as those who commute a couple of hours to and from work every day. They should also be able to enjoy this low mileage discount.

Car insurance representatives have ways to lower your premiums even for college students, but they will not always know what to ask. It is up to you to ask the right questions about discounts that might save you money.

AutoInsuranceAdvice.com is a site dedicated to helping consumers by answering their questions and helping them find cheap auto insurance.

How to Retire Young and Retire Rich

2011-07-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

A lot of people dream of retiring young and retiring rich. But very few actually take steps to make it happen. Why? Because for them it’s too much trouble. You see, the accumulation of wealth takes skill and discipline. Not all people are born into business-minded families who teach you how to be financially literate. Most of us have to teach ourselves and many people don’t bother to educate themselves financially.

You may think that if you weren’t born rich you’ll never become rich. That is a myth. You don’t have to be born into the lap of luxury in order to learn how to acquire wealth. Anyone can do it. Yes. Anyone.

Here are 3 ways you can retire young and retire rich.

First, find your “why”. We all want to be rich. But the question is, WHY? Your reason for this desire to accumulate wealth is a big driving force and this can spell the difference between failure and success. So you have to ask yourself, what is your why? If your answer is “money” then you are doomed for failure. Acquiring wealth simply for money’s sake will not provide you with enough motivation. You’ve got to have a deeper why than that. For some it may be to prove a point. For others it may be to help their family. For some it may be to serve others. It doesn’t matter what your reason is. The point is that is must matter to you. You have to have a “why” that is big enough.

Second, build financial literacy. Have you have observed the way businessmen talk? They have a different kind of language. They use words like ROI, investment opportunity and cash flow. If you want to be rich learn their language. Learn to be financially literate. Understand how money works. When you do, even if you end up loosing everything you will know how to get it back.

Third, acquire assets. Assets are your ticket to financial freedom. It doesn’t matter how big your paycheck is. If you have to work to get it then that is not wealth. True wealth is the freedom to be able to do whatever you want. And you can only achieve this freedom if you have passive income.

"Amy C. is an interior decoration aficionado and online marketer. She also likes testing and trying new home and office decorating themes. In addition to being an interior decoration hobbyist, she enjoys designing calming indoor fountains and glass art. Amy invites you to browse her delightful collection of glass vases"

Free Online Videos To Inspire Your Business

2011-07-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

If you run a small business you’ll know how hard it is to get some spare time to read up on the latest changes in technology and keep up to date with innovations in the business world that can keep you competitive. Every time you take a train or plane you’ll see the shelves full of bestsellers by business gurus and technology futurologists predicting where the next big thing will be online. But the problem is you haven’t got time to sit and read all of these books and magazines. Luckily, help is at hand as these days it is easy enough to find video presentations and webinars by all these business innovators, technology gurus and out-of-the-box thinkers. Whether it’s on your laptop or your iPad, it is now possible to fill every journey with free and relevant content that will keep you inspired and your business up to date. Here we’ve outlined five of the best sites for inspiring, educational free content for you and your business:

TED: Ted is consistently voted one of the top ten iPad apps and is a joy to use. Also viewable via their website ted.com TED describes its content as being ‘riveting talks by remarkable people’ and it delivers exactly that. Not specifically business orientated TED is a continually updated free archive of some of the world’s most incredible thinkers and artists, business leaders and scientists giving talks about what they do and how they do it. Dip into these every time you want some inspiration for your business and watch your productivity soar. The iPad app also allows the content to be viewed offline too, perfect for those long journeys.

OPEN Forum: A brilliant collection of videos featuring market-leading CEO’s, up and coming Small Business Owners and technology trailblazers offering their insight on how they became successful in their industries. A wonderful source of advice and inspiration for small businesses.

Ecorner: Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner has uploaded more than 2000 free podcasts and videos by innovation and entrepreneurship thought leaders. The content ranges from a number of videos about Silicon Valley start-ups through to useful accounting and productivity videos that will help you organize your workflow.

America’s Best: A fascinating series of videos showcasing the business strategies of six large and successful entrepreneurial companies, from Radio One to Columbia Sportswear.

Academic Earth: Academic Earth is an absolutely brilliant source of free videos, collecting together talks by some of the world’s top academics in a wide range of academic fields. But of relevance here is the entrepreneurship channel that has a large selection of videos from business leaders, business gurus and venture capitalists, all talking about what it takes to build a successful company.

Alex is a writer and blogger. He currently writes a blog about freelancing and small businesses for the Bedouin Group .

Top 3 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate

2011-06-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to create wealth. But one of the best ways is through real estate. Why? Because land appreciates – at least most of the time. Unless there’s a financial crisis involved, it goes up in value. The longer you hold on to it, the more valuable it becomes. And one great thing about real estate is that there are many ways to make money from it.

Here are the top 3 ways to make money in real estate:

1. Retailing. Some investors buy ugly property for a cheap price, renovate it and then sell for a profit. This is called retailing. It’s a great way to make instant cash in real estate. But it does have its pitfalls. First of all, you have to buy the property really cheap. Otherwise, after all your renovating expenses plus profit have been factored in, it would become too expensive. If a property is too expensive then you’ll have a hard time selling it quickly. Time is money. The faster you can sell your property, the better so that you can then invest the money you have earned into your next property.

2. Rental properties. Another way to earn money through real estate is through investing your money in rental properties. The return on your investment might take a bit longer – around 3-5 years – but once the property is fully paid it will provide a nice stream of passive income for you. This means that you will be generating money even if you are asleep, on vacation or playing golf. Passive income is the ultimate goal of those who want to achieve financial freedom.

3. Brokering of real property. Now what if you are a beginner who would love to be in real estate but doesn’t have the money or the skill to play the game? Then start at the bottom. Be a real estate broker. The great thing about being a broker is that you learn the hard way – through experience. You get to see first hand how the game is played. You might lose some along the way but eventually you will learn how to play it right. And if you don’t have a lot of cash? Then that’s no problem! All you have to invest in is your license. Why? Because your products are free! That’s right. Just find willing sellers and negotiate for a 5% commission in the event that you manage to sell their property. Build your sellers list. Then build your buyers. The principle here is simple. Give your buyer what he wants. Do it fast and act professionally. And if you do, you’ll be making waves in the industry in no time.

BIO: “Amy C. is an interior decoration aficionado and real estate investor. She likes testing and trying new home and office decorating themes. In addition to being an interior decoration hobbyist, she enjoys designing calming indoor fountains and glass art. Amy invites you to browse her delightful collection of glass vases.

Debt negotiation – Settle your debts by negotiating with creditors

2011-06-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

If you are having debt problems and want to seek solutions for the same, you can consider debt negotiation. This is a highly effective solution where you can either negotiate to settle your debts with your creditors on your own or take help of professional services. Even if you choose to negotiate on your own, you need to have proper and clear advice on how to go about it.

What are the circumstances under which you can opt for debt negotiation?

If you have a steady source of income that is not very low, you might not able to negotiate your debt. This is because the creditors will see that you will be able to keep up with your repayments. The creditors will only agree to write off a large part of your debts through negotiation only if they think that they won’t be able to get anything better. This is majorly a situation where your next option is filing a bankruptcy. Then the creditors would agree to settle your debts through negotiation in order to get at least some money back.

Should you do it on your own or use a professional?

If you approach a professional company for debt negotiation, they are going to charge you for their services in one way or the other. Most of the good companies take as their fees the amount of money they are able to save you. This is quite justified as the payment you make to them is proportional to the effectivity of their services. However, it is quite obvious that if you negotiate your debts on your own, you will be able to save a substantial amount of money that will go for paying the professional charges.

How do you achieve debt negotiation on your own?

If you want to negotiate your debts with your creditors, the first thing you should do is stop paying them the minimum monthly amount. Then you should start negotiating with them to settle the debt at an amount that is lower than what you owe. When the creditors will see that you are not being able to make your payments they will start taking heed to your suggestions. A motivation for a creditor to agree to settle your debts is quick repayment of the remaining amount of debt you owe.

What works best for professional debt negotiation?

When you are taking professional help for negotiating your debts, you should take one debt at a time. This is because the creditors will offer you a debt settlement based on your credit ratings and your debt history. If you pay off your largest debt first, by the time you move to the second creditor your first debt will be off your credit report and it will show a better rating.

So you can see that debt negotiation can be done both on your own and through professional services depending upon which one you feel is the best option for you.

What is Pre-Bankruptcy Counseling

2011-04-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

Pre-bankruptcy counseling is a mandatory course that must be completed by all who are filing for bankruptcy. This course is designed to help the debtor see what his or her options are for eliminating debt. Sometimes debtors will be in a situation where they don’t need to file for bankruptcy, but can overcome debt with other government assisted programs.
When you are filing for bankruptcy there are a few requirements that must be completed before you can begin the process. One of those requirements is a pre-bankruptcy counseling course. This counseling course must be completed before the initial petition of bankruptcy is filed with the court. The debtor filing for bankruptcy will be required to submit a certificate of completion for the course otherwise the trustee assigned to their case may throw the entire thing out.

Post-Filing Bankruptcy Course:

After debtors have completed their pre-bankruptcy counseling course and filed for bankruptcy they will be required to complete a second course. The second credit counseling course is to be completed before a discharge of debt can be granted. This second course aims more at rehabilitation rather than qualification.
The debtor will learn about debt management, using credit wisely, budgeting, and several other things to help them succeed financially after bankruptcy. Similar to the first course the debtor will need to show a certificate of completion in order to proceed with their bankruptcy.

Taking The Bankruptcy Course Online:

The pre and post bankruptcy courses can be taken online. They are very inexpensive and can be completed in about 90 minutes. The certificate of completion can be emailed to you and or your attorney within about an hour of completing the course. Those looking to complete the bankruptcy counseling courses will find the online classes to be the most convenient solution, as they can be taken on your own time and at your own pace.
Both of the online courses are very easy to sign up for. If you are uncertain about what steps to take for your specific situation you can speak with a trained credit counselor who can help you to make an informed decision. They are experienced in working with a variety of situations and can help you to get back on the right path. If you are more comortable taking the course over the phone, courses are available that can be completed entirely over the phone. To avoid overpaying make sure that you find a governement approved non-profit agency to help you with your pre-bankruptcy counseling. S

Micah Castro is a freelance writer for Alliance Credit Counseling. Alliance is a government approved non-profit agency that helps people with financial management, debt solutions, and credit counseling.

Ann Smarty Interview - Editor of Search Engine Journal

2010-09-23T23:52:00.000-07:00

15 Questions with Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty - Founder of MyBlogGuest.com

I was fortunate enough to land an interview with the Director of media and the Editor in Chief for Search Engine Journal, Ann Smarty. I contacted Ann shortly after joining her website MyBlogGuest. MyBlogGuest is a forum based website, that is quickly evolving, and currently has its main focus on facilitating the guest posts between bloggers. The site is quickly gaining success, and has even had a mention on SEOmoz.org, but the site still remains over shadowed by the successes of its creator.

Ann Smarty in the hot seat -

1. Who is Ann Smarty?

Ann: I am an SEO consultant working for BlueGlass as Director of media and Editor-in-Chief for Search Engine Journal. I also run my SEO blog at SEOsmarty.com - which I sadly don't always have enough time for.

2. Smarty is an awesome last name, you know that right?

Yeah, you don't think it's my real name, right? :) Actually I come from Ukraine and have a scary Ukrainian name. When starting a blog, I found a domain seosmarty.com (it is not easy to find an available domain in the SEO world) and decided to borrow my second name from it. That was a good and clever match and it stuck!

[I didn't think so, but did some investigating by surfing around the net... I didn't find any evidence to the contrary, so I went with it. I'll admit to a little egg on my face for this one!]

3. Tell me about MyBlogGuest.com.

MyBlogGuest is the community of guest bloggers. It unites bloggers who are interested in connecting to other bloggers, journalists and other content creators in any niche and publish their high-quality articles on their blogs.

The concept is quite straightforward:

The author writes an article and shows it to the blogger;
The blogger decides if the article fits his blog and if yes, publishes it on the site.
(Optionally) The blogger and the author may arrange that the author promotes (i.e. shares) his post once it is published (and thus drives more traffic to the blogger's site).

4. What is the inspiration for creating MyBlogGuest.com? (Was there a lack of options out there, lack of structure for existing resources?)

I've been doing a lot of guest posting for myself and my clients and I noticed a lot of blog owners were very much interested in guest contributions. However there was no effective way to connect to them. So I thought a place where a blog owner could come to meet talented guest bloggers should be a great idea and a win-win for both the sides.

5. MyBlogGuest.com been endorsed by SearchEngineLand.com and SEOmoz.org, what next... world domination?

Hopefully :) Actually I am getting ready to create and launch a few international mirrors: in Russia and probably in French. I am currently in the talks with people who could help me run the local versions. I am getting many requests about the non-English copies.

6. I had read in the MyBlogGuest.com "About" section that you mentioned a Mark Jackson and a Gerald Weber as helping with coding and SEO. Tell me about those guys.

Mark (http://www.mjdigital.co.uk/blog/about/) is a great coder. He helped me for free to create the user authority script (which is still in early alpha by the way, as it needs some tweaks and experiments). Gerald (http://sem-group.net/) is one of my best friends. He helps me a great deal about spreading the word about My Blog Guest. He is a talented SEO and power social media user. I'd also like to mention our designer who created the latest MBG design: http://amitmojumder.com/ I love the way that guy is doing his job!

7. I see that you're an SEO Consultant as well (AnnSmarty.com). There, you have a refund policy... particularly the line "SEO is definitely a long process and I never guarantee top rankings within any limited period of time." What is the greatest misperception clients have or unrealistic expectations clients have when hiring an SEO consultant?

There's plenty of fud around SEO: the question I hate the most is "When am I going to be in top 3 for my most important keyword". Now, if an SEO consultant tells you the exact period of time and the exact position, run away! There's no way to predict. The only thing an SEO can and should guarantee is that the site will be "SEO-friendly" (easily accessed and crawled by search bots) and that it will have valid and legit back links.

I also love this post by one of your guest contributors that list other SEO misconceptions: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-link-building-questions-that-make-me-die-a-little-inside/23762/

8. You have been described as a social media user, can you elaborate on that?

I have some solid presence at Twitter and Facebook. I used to be an active stumbler (not much time for that now) and I have never had time for Digg. I also have quite powerful profile at LinkedIn. That's pretty much it. I had never meant to be a power user, but social media presence has always been an integral part of what I've been doing. I also don't think a SEO profile should be measure in numbers. How powerful you are is determined by how attentively your followers are listening to you.

9. I saw that you use Skype as well, what are your thoughts on their tentative IPO?

LOL actually I have no thoughts about that :) I've been too busy to go in-depth in the news. I am using Skype almost exclusively as an instant messenger. I don't depend much on it.

10. Do you have any projects or sites outside of MyBlogGuest.com that you'd like to mention?

One of my most recent free projects is http://tweetedranks.com/ that sends your Google keyword position via Twitter DM or Google Talk. It's a fun way to track your Google keyword positions. I have built it for fun and as an experiment.

11. What is your offline life like?

I am one crazy mom of my two-year-old daughter. I spend time with her whenever I am not working. I plan to sit at home with until she grows up, as I don't want to miss a single second of her growing up!

12. What blog or blogs (if any) do you read regularly? Why?

I read SEJ [Search Engine Journal] and Search Engine Land regularly. I am trying to keep up with SEOmoz but I hardly have time for that.

13. There's a so called "browser war," which is your favorite? Any reason for that one?

FireFox. I do have Google Chrome installed and I give it a chance from time to time but, I don't see myself switching. I spend half of my life browsing and I am too used to FireFox to be able to switch. I can't imagine making Chrome as convenient and safe. Though I am well aware of its advantages, higher speed (and productivity) being one of the strongest benefits of switching but I don't plan to so far.

14. Google instant... end of the world or opportunity?

No-no. Google has had plenty of innovations that should have led to the end of the world but actually never did. To me nothing has changed. I still need to make sure that the site structure is easy to crawl and the content is useful enough to win links back. As soon as you do your job well, you are safe :)

15. What is your biggest on line success to date?

Well, I can't single out just one. I have had several wins, but I still think my biggest win is ahead. CNN mention and job at SEJ are two of the most notable ones. But anyway, I am a kind of the person that is seldom satisfied with the result and thinks he could have done better. That is why I never stop LOL

Ann, I want to thank you for taking the time to do an interview on Biz-Tone.blogspot.com. I love the new site, and will continue to use it. I encourage my readers to do the same. Finally, I'd like to congratulate you on all of your success, and wish more success in the future!

Bushnell Tour V2 Slope Edition Rangefinder with Pinseeker

2010-08-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Bushnell Tour V2 Rangefinder with Pinseeker (Slope Edition)

Ok, ok... so I've been on a bit of product push lately. You guys come here for the Monster Energy Shirts, I come here to talk about golf. So sue me, tis the season to be on the course! It's been a good summer for me golf wise, and I've been out on the course more than I ever have. There have been some killer rates due to the recession. My buddies and I have capitalized on that fact.

I've got my bag, and getting used to the MacGregor Irons and Woods. The King Cobra 10.5 has been a phenomenal driver to learn with. While I of course want to upgrade my golf gear - bags, clubs, and such... I also have added a range finder to my list. I've read some really good stuff about the Bushnell Tour V2.

What's good about the Bushnell Tour V2 Slope Edition?

Let's start with customer feedback. This golf accessory has THE best user rating I've seen amongst them. Nothing but good testimonials. Out of 11 ratings, this bad boy gets 9 five star votes, and only 2 four star votes! Nothing less.

Rangefinder Reviews

"An amazing piece of technology" by J. Reid
June 12, 2010 - (4 out of 5 stars)

This is a truly ingenious device with deadly accuracy to 1 yard using the pinseeker option. I have thrown my GPS away now. This device has the advantage that not only can you find how far the flag is, but also how far is the bunker, what's the carry on the water etc. And if you want to know how far your drive was, you can stand at your ball on the fairway, turn round and pick up an object on the tee box. Since you are already carrying it, its also damn useful to augment your eyesight for spotting your ball after the drive. The slope feature is a cool addition - tells you 150 playing 160 uphill etc. However, if you are a tournament player then consider not having the slope feature as it is the last 10% and not allowed in many tournaments even if you don't use this feature so you would have to leave your V2 slope in the locker room. I personally play for fun and enjoy this feature.

The one small negative is that mine came with a geeky flourescent orange case which if you strap to your belt lets everyone on the course know you have a range finder. Luckily this Tour version is also small enough to slip into your pocket.
Via Amazon
"Extremely accurate and useful" by Gregory L. Howell
May 1, 2010 - (5 out of 5 stars)

Great rangefinder. It is easy to use, very accurate, and I use it all the time. I walk when I play golf, so this small, lightweight rangefinder really comes in handy. I use it to help me judge the distance on approach shots by guessing before measuring. Amazing how accurate this rangefinder is when compared to other players that are using the GPS in their carts. Even then, they ask me how far it is to the flag, since the GPS only gives a reading to an area of the green. I don't use the slope feature as much as I thought I would, but it might come in handy for future courses.
Via Amazon
"Happy w/ My Rangefinder" by Carl Nagami

February 21, 2010

My initially delivered "item" could not be used as the battery insertion was a problem. One telephone call to Amazon resulted in a second "item" being delivered in two days. Everything was okay with this one. I have now used the rangefinder on six golf outings and I am very happy with its use. I recommend it to any golfer looking for a way to improve his game.

Via Amazon

About the Bushnell Tour V2 Rangefinder with Pinseeker (Slope Edition)

Weighs 2 pounds.
Avg. Customer Review - 5 Stars!
Bushnell has been the industry leader in high-performance sports optics for more than 50 years.
Figure out the distance to flags tucked in the deepest corners of the green despite background clutter that might befuddle lesser rangefinders.
5 yard to 1,000-yard range. Which is accurate to plus or minus 1 yard.
Ensures accurate target acquisitions by isolating your target and completely shutting out background hazards.
The rangefinder's high-speed digital clock measures the time it took for the laser to reach the target and return to the unit.
So fast, that less than a second elapses between the time you press the button to generate a laser beam to the time the exact range to your target is displayed.
The Tour V2 offers three targeting modes. PinSeeker mode is designed exclusively with the bottom of the cup in mind, allowing you to easily acquire the flag without inadvertently capturing background target distances. The Scan mode, meanwhile, allows you to pan across the landscape while viewing a continuously updated LCD display of the distances between you and the targets you scan with the viewfinder. And golfers can use the Slope mode to measure the angle within plus or minus 1 degree. The rangefinder will then compensate the distance based upon the ball trajectory and type of club used.

Fox Monster Ricky Carmichael Tee

2010-08-01T02:08:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy Fox Hat and T Shirt

Looks like this is the Ricky Carmichael Tee. Although, you wouldn't have to color me surprised if you found out that this was one of the Monster shirts that Rob Dyrdek wears. Now, Rob Dyrdek Monster Energy shirts don't always come with Fox logo on them. I thought that was pretty cool and that you guys would like it. Let's not lie... you might find this shirt on TJ Lavin while he's harassing one of the Real World Challenge rejects.

I also thought the Monster hat was pretty solid too. It's got the charcoal print background, with the "M" overlay atop the Fox logo. When I see this hat, it kind of makes me think of Jeremy McGrath. You?

|More Monster Energy Shirts|

Nike SQ Dymo STR8-FIT Driver | Golf Club

2010-07-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

Nike Golf Clubs On The Mind

I've been hitting the links lately, and working on my game. I'm finally getting to the point where I have a bit of control off of the tee. I am currently working to replace my temptation of a full power swing, for accuracy. I seem to be doing better as far as this aspect is concerned, but of course for anyone who plays the game often would know, there is always room for improvement. In golf, you are always playing against yourself.

Specifically A Nike Driver

The Nike SQ Dymo STR8-FIT Driver is the darling club in question. Currently I have a King Cobra with 10.5 loft. It's a solid club, but I've heard excellent things about the Nike products. Really good things.

I've also used MacGregor clubs, which were pretty impressive. So why the Nikes? Well my uncle told me that they were his dream clubs. This is a man who isn't often impressed with products, unless they are top of the line. In his words:

So I have these Callawy clubs, and I really love them. I have them all dialed in and everything. I told myself, 'OK, you have the perfect clubs. You'll never have to get another set.' Then a demo guy was at the driving rage with the Nike clubs and had me swing them. I'll tell you what, no matter where I hit the ball on the face of the club, it was so forgiving. They rocketed right off the tee. They are amazing!

Make Your Voice Heard On Social Media

2010-06-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

Social Media brought new opportunities for small businesses. It can be used for marketing new products, creating brand awareness, staying in touch with existing clientele and making new contacts. However, the question that bothers most small businesses is that how they can make their voices heard on social media without being considered spammers.

Understand Social Networking

What most people forget about online social networking is that adding friends is not enough. You can add thousands of friends and bring thousands more to your fan page but they are not going to respond to your messages. Why? For one thing they don’t know you or your business that well. Secondly, you always try to take advantage of them. In real life, how you would treat a friend or a local business that is constantly trying to take advantage of you and always bothers you with annoying unwanted messages?

Social networking is all about making new contacts, communicating with people, understanding and appreciating each other, and helping each other with favors when needed.

Take Interest

Well it is understandable that most probably you are not as excited about Facebook as Kyle but you don’t want to miss out this great chance to be with your customers without spending any money. Now if you are there instead of just keep talking to yourself, how about you upload some pictures of your dog? Everyone loves dogs and your customers or fans might want to share their dog pictures with you after that. Or you can upload a video, you can share pictures of your business premises, or appreciate your friends and fans by clicking on the like button on the items they have shared and leaving a comment.
This does not take that much time, but if you will take genuine interest in the people they are definitely going to notice you and take interest in your offerings.

Make Exciting Offers

Instead of posting a discount banner on your social media profiles how about you make some exciting offer that is exclusive to your social contacts? This exciting offer could be a contest, or you can give away free t-shirts to winners or anything that does not cost too much. The point is not to lure your contacts into your evil empire building plans but to get to know them better and make them play with you.

Ask For Help

Being an optimistic I believe the good in people. I have realized that there are nice people out there who are eager to help others. Now if you are looking for some service, or going to buy something you can ask the contacts on your social networks to help you make a decision. You will be surprised to see the response.

Ask Questions and Answer Other People

A simple question such as “What you ate in lunch today?” would get you noticed. This is what social media is about people taking interest in each other’s life and staying up-to date with it via Internet. People feel obligated to answer questions, not that they have all the free time in the world; it is just part of human nature.

Be Kind and Be Nice

Politeness and good manners are not dead and they would help you a lot on online social networks. Be kind to people, be courteous, be helpful and be nice. There are actual human beings behind these profiles and they are emotional, passionate, and sensitive about many things, just like you are. Appreciate other people and respect their concerns.

About Ben Johnson: Ben Johnson is the Alliance Manager at Logoinn, a custom logo design company. He writes about the effect of design on marketing and brand identity and helps small businesses find design solutions for effective marketing.

Biztone | P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program

2010-05-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

The P90X Workout
Looks like I'm ordering the P90X home fitness workout tonight. Should be here in about a two weeks. Summer is coming and time to get rid some of that winter fat. The infomercials make P90X sound like a legit product. But what infomercial doesn't make what ever product they're hawking sound amazing and wonderful?

I've been hearing from people however, that this is a good product. That gives me a lot more confidence in it. I looked up the official site for P90X and compared it to Amazon. They are the exact same price, including shipping. Since I do business with Amazon, and have order products from them in the past, they will get my business. I have never had an issue with anything I've order from them, and they ALWAYS have had my product to me much sooner than then quote in their ship time. Time to take the plunge, buy the product, and lose some weight. Anyone out there use P90X? What do you think about it?

M Claw Hat | Monster Energy

2010-05-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy "M Claw" Hat

Check out the all new "M Claw" hat from Monster Energy.You've got to love Monster Energy. They sponsor the coolest athletes. They create the coolest shwag out there.

This is a sweet hat I found on Amazon, for a really good price! It's got kind of the classic argyle pattern, with the Monster "M" logo on it. Dyrdek style son!

Other Cool Monster Energy Gear:

Monster Energy and DC Shirt

This is actually one of the cooler (at least in my opinion) shirts that have come out with Monster and DC on it. It's called the DC Block New II Mens T-Shirt, and chalked full of awesome screen printed graphics. It's part of the Subaru Rally Team US series. GET THIS SHIRT!

Monster Energy Giant Truck Vinyl Sticker / Decal

Buy the over 2 foot auto decal, Monster Energy vinyl auto sticker. From Amazon -

This MONSTER ENERGY Giant Vinyl sticker is LIME GREEN & YELLOW and measures about 6" X 24". These are tough, car wash safe decals and they look great on vehicle windows or bodies or stick them to any flat, smooth surface. After the sticker is adhered the top carrier plastic is removed leaving ONLY the die-cut sticker. No clear or white material remains. If you have any questions e-mail us at Bob and Judys Market through Amazon. Also, beware of some merchants who sell copies of our Monster Energy stickers that are far inferior in quality and craftsmanship.

Paula Deen | Entrepreneur Ya'll

2010-05-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

Paula Deen (born Paula Ann Hiers)

Ah America's would be surrogate grandmother. "From my kitchen to yours, ya'll." She's the silverhaired, southern belle on the Food Network.

While the American public sees Paula as a happy go lucky, TV chef, I see her as media and merchandising mogul. The balance sheet of this entrepreneur's finical endeavors must be vast. The success and wealth of her cooking empire stems from many avenues, including various TV spots, lines of cookware, and libraries of cook books.

Forbes.com ranks Paula Deen as their number 100 on their power list. In the money department, they list her pay as $4.5 million, in the Chefs category. I can only assume that that number is based on her annual income as "pay." I doubt that that figure includes income from her restaurant (Lady & Sons restaurant -102 W Congress St. Savannah, GA 31401), cookware line, books, etc. With her level of success, she must be making more than $4.5 million.

Forbes Stats on Paula Deen:

Pay Rank 98
Web Rank 97
Press Rank 97
TV/Radio Rank 87

Monster Energy AMA Supercross | Ryan Villopoto

2010-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

At Rogers Centre in Toronto, Saturday night, March 13th, Ryan Villopoto won the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Race. Ryan races for Monster Energy Kawasaki, and in Saturday's race he dominated the AMA Supercross with a continuous lead. He secured his position after the 2nd lap and was never touched again for the remainder of the race. In fact, it is reported that Ryan had lapped more than half the field during his victorious run. This is Villopoto's fifth win of the season and puts him in the running to have a shot at the championship.

The next Monster AMA heat will be held in Arlington, Texas. It will be at the Cowboy's Texas stadium on Saturday March 20th. Going into the next race, Villopoto stands just 17 points behind the leader Dungey. The rankings are:

Dungey	214
Villopoto	197
Hill	177

Business|The Bloom Box

2010-02-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

Is The Bloom Box the new power source of America? Can the average American home operate off an energy source no bigger than 1/2 a shoe box? Ask KR Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy. An actual rocket scientist!

His company is combining science and entrepreneurial efforts to launch The Bloom Box. With hopes that the new power source will eventually have the device selling for as low as $3,000... Sridhar is stirring up some controversy.

"The Flower" - Which is, at its simplest explanation is beach Sand. It is baked, then cut into little, flat squares. It is then coated with secret blue and black ink developed by the company (proprietary information for the company). It is essentially a full cell.

FedEx, WalMart, Google, Staples, ebay, and many other large companies have bought several of these. In fact, Google claims that over $100,000 in savings has already been realized, with some 15% or so of the company's total energy usage generated from The Bloom Box. Since the energy is "green," there are not only tax breaks for these Bloom Boxes... but often local city, state, and national governments will subsidize these energy sources!

Keep your eye for more information on KR Sridhar's Bloom Box.

Monster Energy|Monster Belt Buckle

2010-02-19T00:13:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a pretty cool find. It's a Monster Energy Drink Belt Buckle. I know the readers of this blog really like Monster Energy apparel and shwag, so I thought you guys might find this interesting. I know you'll all see Rob Dyrdek wearing it soon enough, so you might as well be able to buy it first right? RIGHT?!

What do you get the little X-games mimicking clone who has everything Monster? THIS! And seriously... if you can find anything with the Monster Energy Logo on it under $20 bucks, you're doing good! Most Monster items I've seen are between $25 - $150! So at around $17, this belt buckle is steal.

This bad boy weighs in around a pound, so it's not going to be super heavy, or bulky. I think you'd do well to match it with a black or silver studded belt. Plus, with Amazon's quick and efficient shipping... you should have it at your door in about a business week. It'll be around your waste soon enough! Get this Monster Energy Belt Buckle for your collection now!

Longboard | Surf One Robert August II

2010-02-06T00:13:00.000-08:00

Surf One Robert August II Complete Longboard

So, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I am looking at Longboards. I'm in the market to seriously buy one. I have never been the skating type. Believe it or not, I'm actually a pretty straightedge type of guy. (What? Someone who blogs about business, trading, and entrepreneurship is a straightedge?

Yes, I admit it. A straightedge who wants a skateboard. A longboard to be exact. Yes, I do know that there is a difference between the two. As for the Surf One Robert August II... If you look at it though, it's not really a rebel skater kid type of design. It is classic looking, beautiful long board.

What a fitting and beautiful board this is, to be part of the Robert August franchise (produced by Surftech). Who is this Robert guy, and why do I keep mentioning his name a million times in this post?

Robert August is a legend. Born in 1965, he found most his influence on surfing world at large through his involvement in The Endless Summer, a famous surf documentary. The film is a Bruce Brown film, circa 1966. You probably recognize the iconic film poster, even if you are unfamiliar with the film itself. It can be found on T shirts, Posters, and merchandise everywhere. See image below.

Robert August was the son of another very well known surfer, Blackie August. Together this father and son duo helped perpetuate the popularity of the sport. You can also find boards stemming from this family. This longboard in particular has been influenced and accredited to the traditional style of these boards.

Why this one?

Aside from the beauty and style of this longboard, it comes with rave reviews from people who bought it. There are only four and five star ratings on Amazon's customer reviews. I've never seen a product where there are virtually no bad reviews. This item is it! The total package is beautiful and may end up being shipped to my home soon.

T Shirt|Monster Energy

2010-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

2010 Monster Energy T Shirt!

Looks like there is a new Monster Energy T Shirt out there. It has the Monster "M" overlaid on the gray text background. The word "Energy" is in white font over footer of the gray text.

Looks like this on is coming from Rocky Mountain ATV. There are only 2 left in stock! So order fast.

Fox Racing Monster T-Shirt

This is the shirt to buy! The shirt is put out by Fox Racing, but of course has Monster Energy log. Model: Monster RC Replica T-Shirt. This T-Shirt is a 100% Cotton Jersey.

Monster DC Ford Block T-Shirt

Well, with a big old Ford logo on this bad boy, you probably won't be seeing Ken Block wearing this black t-shirt while jumping his Subaru... It's awesome none-the-less. You've got the melted graphic back lay behind the awesome green Monster logo. DC of course, mixed Block and some other sponsor logos. It's actually a pretty sweet ass shirt.

Other T-Shirts

Fox has a cool shirt out they're calling the Fox Fallout Tee. This sweet little shirt (which I think I'm going to order myself) comes in both black and green. The Fox logo has the blurred effect on the bottom right (or bottom left if you are wearing it) of the shirt. The green shirt has the logo in black and the black has the logo in white. I'm liking this shirt a lot, so make sure to check it out.

This bad little double t-shirt is called Quiksilver When Birds Fly Black/White Double Layer. That's a mouthful right? Yeah, so if you didn't catch it, it's by Quicksilver. Here's some cool feature on this one:

Quiksilver screen print graphics

Rib-knit collar and cuffs

Tagless collar

<p>&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;c</p>

|Check out Monster Energy Clothing here!|

Christmas wish list - Flat Screens

2009-12-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

Dual Flat Screen Monitors For Trading!

If there is one thing that I want more than anything this holiday season, it would be two Acer V223, 22'' flat LCD monitors! Truth be told, I may end up just getting them for myself! Trading futures and options often involves looking at quote pages, studying charts, viewing the prices options are currently trading at, and in my case, using analytic software to spot trends and predict highs and lows. One good trade, and these monitors could practically pay for themselves!

As a result of all that flip-flopping, there is a lot of navigating between browsers and different programs. With one screen, I will sometimes have 10 to 12 individual browser tabs open, all at the same time. You can see how this compounds and can quickly become overwhelming. Working with two LCD flat screen monitors (hopefully three in the future) only makes sense.

My future plans also involve a couple retail based websites, as well as some online advertising. When building and testing, it is extremely useful to have a screen for coding and one for testing. Couple this all with a case for reserving space, and I can justify getting some flat screens! Just throw on some Multimon dual monitor task bar software, and I'd be set to go.

These screens are a bargain at under $140 each! For less than $280, I'm in business with two flat panel LCD monitors for my computer! Plus, Amazon has all kinds of crazy Christmas deals if you spend over $100, like free shipping! Along with that, this item includes some special offers and product promotions, in this case a free subscription to Wired magazine for a year! Simply getting of these bad boys is a good move.

NFL picks for week 15 and week 14

2009-12-15T22:22:00.001-08:00

I am officially out of the NFL bonus pool as of Monday night. Thank you Arizona for choking. It is much appreciated.

My Week 15 NFL Picks (This Week)

Indianapolis Colts Vs. Jacksonville (Indy to win)
Dallas Cowboys Vs. New Orleans (Dallas to win)
New England Patriots Vs. Buffalo Bills (Pats to win)
Arizona Cardinals Vs. Detroit Lions (Cards to win)
Miami Dolphins Vs. Tennessee (Tenn. to win)
Cleveland Browns Vs. Kansas City (Cleveland... really?)
Houston Vs. St. Louis Rams (Houston to win)
Atlanta Falcons Vs. NY Jets (NY to win)
San Francisco Vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Damn you SF)
Green Bay Packers Vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Packers to win)
Chicago Bears Vs. Baltimore Ravens (Ravens to win)
Cincinnati Bangles Vs. San Diego Chargers (Chargers to win)
Oakland Raiders Vs. Denver Broncos (Ponies to win)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Vs. Seattle Sea Hawks (Water Cocks to win)
Minnesota Vikings Vs. Carolina (Farve to win)
NY Giants Vs. Washington (NY to win)

Last Week's NFL picks (week 14)

Pittsburgh Steelers Vs. Cleveland Browns (Pittsburgh to win)
New Orleans Saints Vs. Atlanta Falcons (Saints to win)
Green Bay Packers Vs. Chicago Bears (Packers to win)
St. Louis Rams Vs. Tennessee (Tenn. to win)
Denver Broncos Vs. Indianapolis Colts (Broncs to win)
Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City (KC to win)
NY Jets Vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Jets to win)
Miami Dolphins Vs. Jacksonville (Miami to win)
Detroit Lions Vs. Baltimore Ravens (Ravens to win... what a blow out!)
Seattle Sea Hawks Vs. Houston (Houston to win)
Cincinnati Bangles Vs. Minnesota Vikings (Viking victory)
Carolina Panthers Vs. New England (Patriots to win)
Washington Red Skins Vs. Oakland Raiders (Oakland to win)
San Diego Chargers Vs. Dallas Cowboys (Romo... you let me down)
Philadelphia Eagles Vs. NY Giants (Eagles to win)
Arizona Cardinals Vs. San Francisco 49ers (Noooooooooooo!)

Guest Post

2009-12-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Jack was kind enough to write a guest post. I also want to apologize, as it took me forever to respond. Please enjoy the article.

7 steps to find a great job

I ask primarily those who already have some experience and have managed to form an idea about what he wants to do more.

1) Make clear your goals and profile. This is the first thing to do, need to know exactly what to follow, has no sense to apply to all kinds of jobs at various companies in different industries, only becouse they offer car and service telephone .

2) Build up a CV - first read all the articles about CV, letters of intent and about job seeking (on this site and others) - can take up to 2-3 weeks you do a CV, but effort is worth - do not hesitate to adjust your CV and always ask for someone to read and give their opinion - in your CV write all relevant information on training, experience, skills and personality ( there is no problem if your CV stretches on page 2 or even 3) - when he exceeds a certain level is almost impossible to concentrate everything in one page) - do not lie, not exaggerate, but highlights all aspects that advantage you - use keywords typical to job and industry (according to your objectives and profile) - using short phrases, explicit (for forms you can inspire from company announcements, but be sure to match perfectly).

3) Apply to as many jobs - but only those who match the profile and objectives

4) Be confident and tenacious - perseverance always works.

5) Get ready for each interview - first read all the articles about interviews (on this site and others) - always inform you for each interview (search on internet information about the company, the industry about the type of job), - try to find the key elements of the company (keywords, relevant requirements, etc.) and search on the internet (search on google like''what is project management''or''what is purchasing '', etc.) - not just read on the monitor, print important information and read them in your free time (it is important to be familiar with terminology and basic principles, no matter what you gonna work) - get notes.

6) Go to all the interviews - at the interviews you will learn what gaps and strengths you have - if you go to many interviews and prepare for each, after a while you will accumulate several hundred pages of documentation, but you will find with pleasure that after several interviews you are perfectly prepared for any challenge.

7) In an interview be a "god" - you`ll never imagine what power have positive thinking - before you prepare to go on the interview say aloud ''Today history is written", "Today i`m a hero'' - but do not forget to be modest and to have the right attitude.

Good luck! Now you are the best candidate and will certainly get the dream job!

Find more similar articles here.

Week 12 - NFL Picks

2009-12-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Football

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Hope you guys all had a good one. I was extremely happy to see the Dallas Cowboys stomped Oakland. Although, I didn't have much doubt about that game. I didn't have a very good week as far as my picks went in week 12. My record for Thanksgiving was 10 wins, 6 losses. Here's the picks:

Thursday November 26

Green Bay at Detroit (Green Bay Packers to win) Winning Pick
Oakland at Dallas (Dallas Cowboys to win) Winning Pick
NY Giants at Denver (NY Giants to win) Losing Pick

Sunday November 29

Tampa Bay at Atlanta (Atlanta Falcons to win) Winning Pick
Miami at Buffalo (Miami Dolphins to win) Losing Pick
Cleveland at Cincinnati (Cincinnati Bangles to win) Winning Pick
Arizona at Tennessee (Arizona Cardinals to win) Losing Pick
Seattle at St. Louis (St. Louis Rams to win) Losing Pick
Chicago at Minnesota (Minnesota Vikings to win) Winning Pick
Carolina at NY Jets (NY Jets to win) Winning Pick
Washington at Philadelphia (Philadelphia Eagles to win) Winning Pick
Indianapolis at Houston (Indianapolis Colts to win) Winning Pick
Kansas City at San Diego (Kansas City Chiefs to win) Losing Pick
Jacksonville at San Francisco (Jacksonville Jaguars to win) Losing Pick
Pittsburgh at Baltimore (Baltimore Ravens to win) Winning Pick

Monday November 30

New England at New Orleans (New Orleans to win) Winning Pick

The VIP of week 12... No, the VIP of this season is Drew Brees. The Saints are just on a death march. Whoever stands in their way... are simply crushed. This is an amazing team this season. Drew Brees gets the plug for his NFL jersey below:

NFL Picks Week 11

2009-11-29T00:14:00.000-08:00

Last week was not my proudest showing for my NFL picking prowess. I went 10-6! OUCH. Here's what my picks were.

WEEK 11 NFL Picks:

Thursday: Miami Dolphins Vs. Carolina (Miami win)
Sunday: Washington Vs. Dallas Cowboys (Cowboys win)
Cleveland Vs. Detroit (Detroit win)
San Francisco Vs. Green Bay (Green Bay Win)
Pittsburgh Vs. Kansas City (Pittsburgh Win)
Atlanta Vs. NY Giants (NY Win)
New Orleans Vs. Tampa Bay (New Orleans Win)
Buffalo Vs. Jacksonville (Jacksonville Win)
Indianapolis Vs. Baltimore (Indianapolis Win)
Seattle Sea Hawks Vs. Minnesota (Minnesota Win)
Arizona Vs. St. Louis (Arizona Win)
NY Jets Vs. New England (New England Win)
Cincinnati Vs. Oakland (Cincinnati Win)
San Diego Vs. Denver (San Diego Win)
Philadelphia Vs. Chicago (Philadelphia Win)
Monday Night: Tennessee Vs. Houston (Tennessee Win)

NFL Week 9

2009-11-08T10:48:00.001-08:00

Pigskin

Here we are again, an NFL Sunday. I dropped my NFL picks off last night, and looks like I'm doing alright today. A lot of this year's crappy teams have byes today ( Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, and St. Louis Rams). So I had some trouble deciding which game would be my NFL guarantee this week. I thought about going with the Detroit Lions (to lose), but the Seattle Sea Hawks haven't been playing well enough to bank on. We are talking about Money here! I ended up guaranteeing the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins game. Atlanta for the win. Currently they are in the second quarter, and the score is 14-0 ATL. So, I'm happy with that. We'll see what the day brings.

My NFL week 9 picks

Washington @ Atlanta (Atlanta to win)
Arizona @ Chicago (Arizona to win)
Baltimore @ Cincinnati (Cincinnati to win)
Houston @ Indianapolis (Indianapolis to win)
Miami @ New England (New England to win)
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay (Green Bay to win)
Kansas City @ Jacksonville (Kansas City to Win)
Detroit @ Seattle (Seattle to win)
Carolina @New Orleans (New Orleans to win)
San Diego @ NY Giants (San Diego to win)
Tennessee @ San Francisco (San Francisco to win)
Dallas @ Philadelphia (Dallas to win)

Monday Night

Pittsburgh @ Denver (Pittsburgh to win)

Monday Night Total Pts: 45

Wal-Mart Battles Lables Over CD Prices

2009-11-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

This is one of the those old papers I had lying around, that needs to be cleaned up. This is an old paper from my BA 101, class.

(Source: Warren Cohen. Oct. 28th, 2004 issue, Rolling Stone Magazine. Pg. 26-30)

I chose this article because this issue is going to have a major impact on future business, particularly the record industry. Currently Wal-Mart sells and often is willing to lose money on the Cd's they sell, they buy most hit Cd's for around $12 from distributors and sell them to their customers for $10. The mentality behind this is that the CD prices lure customers to the store, hoping they might also grab a boom box or DVD player while checking out the music deals.

Wal-Mart wants to keep selling their Cd's for less than $10- $9.72 to be exact, and wants the record industry and distributors to lower their selling prices to Wal-Mart. The record industry is irate over this matter, but almost forced to comply, due to Wal-Mart's effect on today's major albums. Wal-Mart currently sells an estimated one out of every five major-label albums, making it the biggest record selling store in the nation. It has so much power, industry insiders say; that what it chooses to stock can basically determine what becomes a hit. "If you don't have a Wal-Mart account, you probably won't have a major pop artist," said one label official.

If the music industry does not comply with Wal-Mart's request, Wal-Mart has threatened to remove record sales from its chain entirely. Wal-Mart can do this because record sales only account for two percent of Wal-Mart's total business, Wal-Mart wouldn't even feel the impact of discontinuing their in-store record sales.

I think this is an amazing ultimatum Wal-Mart has given, to uphold their motto of low prices, they truly do care about their customer base. (No thoughts from the author.)

NFL Week 8 Biztone Promotes!

2009-11-03T00:32:00.000-08:00

Biztone Promotes New Orleans Saints Pierre Thomas Jersey!

Here we are, the NFL week 8 Monday night game. The New Orleans Saints vs. the Atlanta Falcons. What a game of athleticism! I'm serious, this is the kind of game I've been waiting for! What an insanely fun game it was to watch tonight.

You all know that I respect the best. Tonight, the honorary promotion goes to Pierre Thomas! This man was on fire tonight. The New Orleans Saints were the top rated, favorite tonight. Oh did they ever deliver! Although, not as easily as some might have thought. Pierre, you get the Biztone endorsement for the evening, and for a game well played here in the NFL week 8!

Other topic for week 8... Brett Farve! Back at Lambo Stadium! His ears very well may still be ringing from the boos he received when walking out on the field Sunday afternoon. I've got to admit, Farve is a class act. He composed himself and took it like a man.

What I think he should have done: If I were Brett Farve, I would have ran out with a giant Green Bay Packers flag flying. I would have stopped on the field and let the volume of boos increase. At the pinnacle of distaste from previous fans, I would have ripped the flag off the pole, held it high above my head, and tore that sucker in half. I'd let the lifeless halves fall to the ground, passing my giant ear-to-ear grin as they descended. Then for good measure, give the fabric a good stomp into the ground, and spit on it. I would then ask the water boy to run out into the crowd and collect the tears from all those cheese heads, to quench my inevitable thirst from the ass kicking I would later deliver to Green Bay on their home field.

FARVE! You are the man... I didn't count on promoting two jerseys tonight, but here is your promo: BUY FARVE'S JERSEY!

NFL Week 8 Pick

2009-10-31T01:26:00.000-07:00

Depending on the Cowboys!

Well, here we are. Week 8, with new picks to turn in for the NFL packet. Things are getting shook up a little, and some teams have been waking up. I'm still in the pool with the guaranteed pick... so who's my lock?

You guessed it! Dallas? What gave it away? The header or the picture?

I'm depending on Dallas for several reasons. The first... I kept picking the Rams to lose. With the game against Detroit... who really isn't playing all that hot this season either, I was torn. I could not put a guarantee on this game, and to tell you the truth, I picked St. Louis to win this one. Shocker, I know. Also, Cleveland is pretty much a sure loss.... the problem is that Chicago has been falling apart too.

My bet is on Dallas. It's a bit biased, since I'm a Cowboys fan... but I think it's a logical call against Seattle. Dallas usually plays some solid ball. I'm hoping I'm not wrong on this one. We'll have to wait and see what the weekend brings.

Here are the goods:

Buffalo to win (Houston at Buffalo)
Chicago to win (Cleveland at Chicago)
Dallas to win ( Seattle at Dallas)*
St. Louis to win [what?!] (St. Louis at Detroit)
Minnesota to win (Minnesota at Green Bay)
San Francisco to win (S.F. at Indianapolis)
NY Jets to win (Miami at NY Jets)
Denver to win (Denver at Baltimore)
San Diego to win (Oakland at S.D.)
Jacksonville to win (Jacksonville at Tennessee)
Philadelphia to win (NY Giants at Philadelphia)
Arizona to win (Carolina at Arizona)

New Orleans to win (Atlanta at New Orleans) 51 Total points.

Weary of Monster Energy

2009-10-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

While it looks like Monster Energy of Hansen Corp, and Rock Art brewing have squashed the beef over the name dispute, I am still a weary man when it comes to the behemoth that is Monster Energy. I do however still really like their shwag, so I’ve been surfing Amazon and found a sweet new Monster hat that I don’t even think Rob Dyrdek has yet! Well… maybe. That guy seems to get anything and everything that Monster has ever made, ever will make, or will even think about making.

Picture this. Rob Dyrdek and Drama are chilin’ in the Fantasy Factory. Rob of course is sporting the usual Monster Energy gear from head to toe. Rob grabs his board, and takes off toward the foam pit. Screaming, hollering, and acting a fool. Of course, Drama (Christopher "Drama" Pfaff: Rob's cousin and personal assistant) is awkwardly and nervously moping around.

The lawyer guy… what’s his name? I never know that guy’s name (I think it’s Geoff)… he just cries a lot about everything Rob does that is dangerous. Of course Rob is going to do some dangerous stuff… what the hell business do you think he’s in? He’s Rob Dyrdek! PRO SKATER!

Chanel (Rob's rapping receptionist), is giggling and watching, as Rob makes his rounds, acting a fool. Maybe piecing together a rhyme in head, in case Dyrdek puts her on spot. He usually does. Maybe she’ll drop a line about Rob’s “Dope” new Monster Energy hat?

Rob comes flying around the corner at break neck speed. What’s in hand? An old faded orange globe? Rob hits the ramp, propelling him through the air, and releases the ball at the most opportune moment. Half blind luck, and yet, part very advanced motor skills… the ball goes in without a sound. The net contracts back inside it’s self as screams of glory and disbelief echo throughout the Fantasy Factory.

Misc. Notes

2009-10-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

More Old Notes:

These are out of the collection. I'm not sure who they stem from, or who deserves the credit. None the less, I need to get them in the old business blog. I think these are more toward attitude development and motivation. While some of these will seem like common sense... sometimes it's good review what we already know. Here they are:

No one can ruin your day without YOUR permission.
Most People will be about as happy, as they decide to be.
Others can stop you temporarily, but only you can do it permanently.
Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have.
Success stops when you do.
When your ship comes in... make sure you are willing to unload it.
You will never "have it all together." ACT NOW!
Life is a journey... not a destination. Enjoy the trip!
The biggest lie on the planet: "When I get what I want, I will be happy."
The best way to escape your problem is to solve it.
I've learned that ultimately, 'takers' lose and 'givers' win.
Life's precious moments don't have value, unless they are shared.
If you don't start, it's certain you won't arrive.
We often fear the thing we want the most.
He or she who laughs... lasts.
Yesterday was the deadline for all complaints.
Look for opportunities... not guarantees.
Life is what's coming... not what was.
Success is getting up one more time.
Now is the most interesting time of all.
When things go wrong... don't go with them.

Rock Art Brewery Vs. Hansen's Monster Energy!

2009-10-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy Drink Lawsuit!

Matt Nadeau of Rock Art Brewery in Vermont was delivered a cease and desist order to quit brewing his Vermonster barley wine style strong beer. This small Vermont brewery has been in around for nearly 12 years!

It looks like the issue was resolved. Matt Nadeau of Rock Art Brewery and Rodney Sacks Hansen's (Parent Company of Monster Energy Drink) CEO were able reach some common ground. That along with a lot of public and Internet out crying... the issue is now resolved.

Check out Rock Art Brewery's website here: http://rockartbrewery.com/

2009-10-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Old Business Notes

It is house cleaning time and I found a bunch of old papers lying around. Bits and pieces of business related notes, I have had stashed away. I decided that it was probably about time I alleviate myself of all the clutter, and store them in the old blog. That is after all, one of the reasons this blog was initially started.

The notes:

*Drive:

-Why approach the starting line, if you don't plan to win?

-"I know why he's a billionaire and why I'm a millionaire." (Kiyosaki on Trump)

-"While talent is the ability to hit a target that others miss, Genius is the ability to hit a target that others do not even see." (Schopenhauer)

-"Anybody that would say money is not important, would lie about other things too." (Zig Ziglar)

-Market America is the only business that your boss wants to make more money than he/she does.

-People dont plan to fail... they simply fail to plan.

-100% of the shots you don't take... You'll miss.

-How many people told you "no" last week? If you don't get a 'no,' you're not doing anything.

-3 keys to making money and running a successful business:
1. Leverage
2. Residual Income
3. Timing

-We work trading our time for money & you get paid what 'they' think you are worth.

-To be a professional at anything you must master the basics.

-Repetition is the mother of skill.

-SNIOP (Subject to Negative Influence of Other People)

-Who are you getting your advice from?

-You cannot negotiate the price of success.

-Excuses are the nails to build your house of failure.

Week 7- NFL Picks!

2009-10-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

NFL Picks for Week 7

It's time for the picks again this week. It was hard again this time. Well... some of them, not all of them obviously. I'm basing my NFL savvy on the players, where it is a tough call. Take the Arizona and Giants game for example. Arizona has been making a bit of come back in the past couple weeks, and New York has been playing solid. What to do? Go with the quarterback! Solid players are always a good bet!

Here the are... the Week 7 NFL picks:

* Chicago @ Cincinnati ( Chicago to win)
* Green Bay @ Cleveland (Green Bay to win)
* San Diego @ Kansas City (San Diego to win)
* Indianapolis @ St. Louis (Indianapolis to win)
* San Francisco @ Houston (San Francisco to win)
* Minnesota @ Pittsburgh (Minnesota to win)
* New England @ Tampa Bay (New England to win)
* Buffalo @ Carolina (Carolina to win)
* NY Jets @ Oakland (Oakland to win... yes, Oakland)
* New Orleans @ Miami (New Orleans to win)
* Atlanta @ Dallas (Dallas to win)
* Arizona @ NY Giants (NY Giants to win)

(This week, the byes are: Denver, Detroit, Tennessee, Seattle, Jacksonville, Baltimore)

* Philadelphia @ Washington (Philadelphia to win)

Monday Nights point total: 38

Run away gold

2009-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Gold's Bull Run

I've been chomping at the bit to get into gold and it's a really good thing I haven't. I still feel it's on the verge... like right now! I'm calling a top! Puts are affordable and if you get one with enough time, I think you stand to make some serious cash here.

If you look at the monthly chart, and weekly chart, it sticks out like a sore thumb. On the daily, I'm seeing some justifiable conformation signs by the last two days opening high, closing lower. I think now is the time to call the broker and the bronco that is gold.

NFL Week Six Picks!

2009-10-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

Before I post my NFL picks for week six, I want to honor the Dallas Cowboy trifecta of amazement last week. Austin, Choice, and Ratliff were the playmakers of the day. For the courageous effort that was displayed, I'm flashin' the 'Got Five?' tee for the Dallas Cowboys. Superbowl greatness.

My Picks for week 6:

Houston @ Cincinnati (Cincinnati to win)
Detroit @ Green Bay (Green Bay to win)
Baltimore @ Minnesota (Minnesota to win)
NY Giants @ New Orleans (New Orleans to win)
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Bay to Win)
Kansas City @ Washington (Washington to win)
St. Louis @ Jacksonville (Jacksonville to win)
Arizona @ Seattle (Seattle to win)
Philadelphia @ Oakland (Philadelphia to win)
Tennessee @ New England (New England to win)
Buffalo @ NY Jets (NY Jets to win)
Chicago @ Atlanta (Atlanta to win)

Monday Night:

Denver @ San Diego (Looking for the San Diego upset here, Denver is undefeated this year)

Byes for the week: Dallas, Indianapolis, Miami, San Francisco

I also took some advice from sportsline and the Vegas odds makers, we'll see if that helps this week's picks. Last week I got destroyed and lost position in the pool? Where's the profit in that?

Dwayne Clark - CEO of Aegis Living

2009-10-10T00:53:00.000-07:00

A Role Model

Not very often does one come across stories like this, at least it is becoming much more seldom of an occurrence. A paragon is Aegis Living CEO, Dwayne Clark. Dwayne's company, Aegis Living, is a large senior living provider, with several locations throughout the west coast. This is a man who sets an example, both as an entrepreneur and as a human being.

What is it I'm talking about? I'm talking about the way Clark treats his employees. Most recently holding a star-studded conference solely focused on enriching the lives of his employees. Excellent work Mr. Clark! You are an example of what all business owners should strive to be.

NFL Week 5 Picks

2009-10-08T23:35:00.001-07:00

Pool Picks for Week 5 - NFL

It's time to turn in my packet picks for the NFL again. It's my week to make some money! Here they are, in my NFL packet order.

The picks:

Cleveland at Buffalo (Buffalo to win)
Dallas at KC (Dallas to win)
Minnesota at St. Louis (Minnesota to win)
Oakland at NY Giants (Giants to win)
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia (Philadelphia to win)
Pittsburgh at Detroit (Pittsburgh to win)
Washington at Carolina (Washington to win)
Cincinnati at Baltimore (Baltimore to win)
Atlanta at San Francisco (San Francisco to win)
Jacksonville at Seattle (Jacksonville to win)
Houston at Arizona (Houston to win)
New England at Denver (Denver to win)
Indianapolis at Tennessee (Indianapolis to win)
NY Jets at Miami (NY Jets to win)

As you can see, I went with the favorites this week. I checked most of the stats on Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/). Also take a look at the NFL page on ESPN (http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/scoreboard).

Biztone: Bullish on the NFL

2009-10-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

Trading Farve?

Ok, we all made the Bret Farve jokes preseason. Hell, the guy even has even made commercials mocking himself and his own indecisiveness. With the way he has been playing this season... we all may be eating a bit of crow. My NFL trade? I'm bullish Farve!

I'm also bullish, Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall is well oiled machine. This guy is an animal! Number 34 on the Pittsburgh Steelers, is my sleeper pick! I'm not trading options on this guy... he's my full futures contract power play.

Due to the amazement these two men have bestowed upon this week, I am giving them the Biztone promotion of the week. An honorable mention on the old blog. Not only that, but they get the old business thumbs up with me promoting their shwag! Look out Rob Dyrdek... I've got a new man crush! Maybe two. Without further ado... the Promo:

Brett Farve Jersey!
Get one of the NFL quarter back great's jerseys! And get it before he retires... or not.

Mendenhall! Rush like the Pittsburgh animal in you own #34 jersey!

Donate to Kidd's Kids

2009-10-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

Find more photos like this on Kidd's Kids

Kidd Kraddik (a morning show DJ) is taking terminally and chronically ill children to Disney land. It is a great charity that was started in 1991. To donate go here: http://www.kiddskids.com/page/make-a-donation

From the website:
"I founded Kidd's Kids in 1991 with the hope of making a difference in the lives of terminally and chronically ill children. Each year, Kidd's Kids offers five amazing days of suspended reality to children whose lives have been ravaged by disease. Kidd's Kids children and their families are given the chance to experience the exuberance of being "normal." That is the gift that you and I can offer by supporting the Kidd's Kids organization.

-Signed, Kidd"

NFL Week 3 Picks

2009-09-27T02:46:00.001-07:00

NFL Picks

While trading has escpaced my focus for the time being, the NFL hasn't! This week I have updated my picks. Looking forward, here is what I have planned:

Week 3 NFL picks:

Detroit ( Washington Vs. Detroit)
Green Bay ( Green Bay Vs. St. Louis)
Minnesota (San Fransico Vs. Minnesota)
Atlanta ( New England Vs. Atlanta)
NY Jets ( Tennessee Vs. NY Jets)
Philadelphia ( Kansas City Vs. Philadelphia)
NY Giants ( NY Giants Vs. Tampa Bay)
Baltimore ( Cleveland Vs. Baltimore)
Houston ( Jacksonville Vs. Houston)
Buffalo ( New Orleans Vs. Buffalo)
Chicago ( Chicago Vs. Seattle)
San Diego (Miami Vs. San Diego)
Cincinnati ( Pittsburgh Vs. Cincinnati)
Denver ( Denver Vs. Oakland)
Indianapolis ( Indianapolis Vs. Arizona)

Monday Night:

Dallas ( Carolina Vs. Dallas)

Wish me luck!

Football Money

2009-09-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

My picks for my Money :

It's that time of year again. The Tennese Titans & Pittsburgh Steelers game kicked off the season this year on Thursday, September 10th. I got a football packet at work and turned in the first week's picks. Too bad for me, I chose the wrong team for the season opener.

I know, I know. The Steelers were just so heavily favored, I found it hard to agree with the crowd. Preseason, the numbers were on my side... although, that doesn't mean much. My only solace is that it was an extremely close game.

Here is what my 1st week line up looks like:

Tenn. to win (Thursday Sept. 10)
Miami to win (Sunday Sept. 13)
Cincinnati (Sunday Sept. 13)
Minnesota (Sunday Sept. 13)
Indianapolis (Sun. Sept. 13)
Detroit (Sun. Sept. 13)
Dallas (Sun. Sept. 13)
Philadelphia (Sun. Sept. 13)
Baltimore (Sun. Sept. 13)
New York Jets (Sun. Sept. 13)
Washington (Sun. Sept. 13)
San Fransisco (Sun. Sept. 13)
Seattle (Sun. Sept. 13)
Green Bay (Sun. Sept. 13)
New England (Monday Sept. 14)
San Diego (Mon. Sept. 14)

Let's make some money!

Beat Rob Dyrdek's Grind Record!

2009-09-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

Dyrdek's 50/50 Grind Record!

What does it take to beat Rob Dyrdek's world record grind of 100 Ft? Well, besides 100 ft of grinding... practice, practice, practice. Then when you get tired of practicing... probably a little more practice. Best way to do that? Get a rail to grind on. How about the Mojo Rails Bench Back?

Here's what's cool about this skate rail.

7.5 Foot Rail.
It's easy to truck around. It might not be the 100 ft rail Dyrdek smashed... but it's a start. It's highly portable.
It attaches to a skate bench. You can add components to it.
It has welded steel construction.
Great powder coat finish.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping today!
Only 25 pounds
Gift wrap available.
Sold by Amazon.

When Futures Trading Gives You Lemons...

2009-09-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

Trading Lemons?

Well, the Sugar trade didn't quite make it. Which was a major bummer. But what do you do when life gives you lemons? You make the most bitter pitcher of lemonade you can, then find some sucker to drink it. Something like that.

I can cry like a little girl about this trade all I want... (believe me, I have) but the best thing I can do now is to document this trade and study my mistakes for next time. Maybe in the future, I can capitalize handsomely on a trade similar to this.

For now, I guess I'll just pick myself up, dust off, and readjust. There are plenty of other markets that need some trading. The broker might have an idea or two as well. Time to start some homework and make some money!

Indecision is expensive

2009-09-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Futures Trading - Sugar Sept.

There is nothing more expensive when trading, than to be indecisive. I've been watching the Sugar market for weeks, and talking about about shorting with either an option or contract... and I missed the damn trade! I knew that this market was going to drop and I still missed it. I was beyond pissed at myself yesterday.

Well, with a big profit just pissed away... I now need to shake it off and focus. I think there is still a good chance of this market continuing to head downward. So, I think the new plan is find an option on it, with a lot of time, and just let it ride. Let the trading forces do what they may. Remember though, in trading, indecision is extremely expensive!

Dyrdek's Rogue Status Wear

2009-09-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

When Rob Dyrdek isn't rocking the Monster Energy T shirt, he is usually sporting the Rogue Status Wear. It's the machine gun laden, repeating pattern style of shirt. Rob & Big shirts galore!

Another sweet thing? The Grenade GAS Snowboard Gloves Rogue Status! These bad boys are sic! Probably the coolest pair of Snowboarding Gloves I've seen this year. Get them, before they're gone!

Sugar Futures End Aug. Begin Sept.

2009-08-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

Futures Trading

Looks like the sugar futures had another leg up today. Which is really good, since I decided not take a short position on it yet. It's actually making the short position look all that more attractive. I think it's another case of watching the indicators and waiting for the right timing. I think the fundamental outlook is still pretty bullish, and it'll be a while longer before we can blow off some steam and short it. The only way to tell is keep watching and waiting.

While waiting for sugar, Madden NFL 10

2009-08-25T00:46:00.000-07:00

Madden NFL 10 Xbox 360

While waiting for Sugar to trade lower, we're going to need to pass the time. Don't get me wrong, we still need to watch the futures markets. I think we can play some Madden NFL 10 while we wait though. The game looks really cool, there is a preview on I saw on it. The price is pretty cheap too.

I think sugar may trade even higher than where it is at now. It's making a flag on the weekly chart, and judging by the daily chart it's testing some areas. The only thing that is keeping me from trading this market now, is a few things.

It appears to be moving sideways on the daily and the stochastics are not agreeing. The fundamental out look is bullish. With every spectator jumping on the bear side of the trade, it tells me that it is probably the wrong time to get short on this futures trade. However, when it drops, it should be very profitable. I want to keep a close eye on this market, but don't think the time is right at that moment.

Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory: Season One (2009)

2009-08-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

Rob Dydek's Fantasy Factory:

Rob Dydek and Drama Phaf are at it again, post Rob and Big. This season is a must buy! GET IT NOW!

You'll see it all, from Rob building the world's largest skateboard, to Rob racing Ryan Sheckler in a drag off. See Drama freestyle in his new studio inside the fantasy factory. Rob makes incredible three point shots from a skateboard all through out this season.

This season is epic! You love Rob Dyrdek. Watch it over and over!

You might also want to check out this sick Alien Workshop deck by Rob Dyrdek too! It's the 8.0. Sick design.

Monster - Hat, Triad Flexfit White

2009-08-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy Hat

Tonight's little goody comes at great price. It's $30 and is quite stylish. Monster Energy brings this snow white, baller cap to all you guys. I kind of liked it and thought I'd post it up here.

For all you Monster Energy Drink junkies out there, I thought I'd share a little news with you guys. Hansen natural Corp. has announced a new appointment of their Chief Operating Officer of Monster Beverage Co. The man's name is Nick R. Gagliardi, and he is 52 man with prior experience in beverage wholesale.

This statement was taken from http://www.cspnet.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=2A0E288F07044B32A8D387F1B54E0F57&AudID=4AD8BF14480842378CC24C182A48D9D7:

"Nick brings to our company more than 25 years of sales, distribution and business development experience in beverage and consumer products," said Rodney C. Sacks, chairman and chief executive officer of Hansen Natural."

Doing some traveling

2009-08-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

Getting Out of Dodge

It's been a really busy summer for me. A lot of study when it comes to the charts and trading, work, and just stuff in general. So I think it's time to take the girlfriend out of town next weekend.

That's how I stumbled across this great duffle bag. I have a pretty good bag, but could use a little bigger one. This one looks really nice and like it's built to last. When a bag looks like it can last a long time, I don't mind spending a little money on one. So I'm thinking that I like this one pretty strongly. It's the High Sierra, a 36-inch, drop-bottom wheeled Duffle. It's Sturdy, stylish, and the price is right. Casinos here we come!

Make Dyrdek proud!

2009-08-15T01:54:00.000-07:00

DC Hoodie

Sweet white & black zip hoodie from DC. Ok all you Rob Dyrdek, mini skaters, check it out. This zip hoodie is sweet deal. Only $58, you should pick one up. See ya next week.

Sugar Watch - Put Option

2009-08-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Futures - Sugar

I've got my eye on sugar still. I wanted to get an option yesterday, but dad still thought the indicators were bullish, so we stayed out. I think he was right, but it's getting awfully close to turning around.

When I called my broker, he told me that everyone was looking at sugar. Which tells me that the market still had some upside to work out. See, when everyone is trading one way, the market likes to do the opposite. That's not just superstition either... that's experience.

The plan is check the market Saturday night and see what things look like. It may have some chops right between the 23.00 and 25.00 area still. Be ready for this one.

Sweet Monster Windbreaker.

2009-08-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy Gear

Want to wear some of the sweetest Monster Energy gear around? You've come to the right spot. I just ran across this sweet Monster Windbreaker. IT'S LIMITED! So you better grab it up fast. Check it out.

Best Water Toy Ever!

2009-08-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Gladiator Emperor Island Party Lounge

This thing is pretty sweet! Add this to my list of summer time fun toys. The Gladiator Emperor Island Party Lounge holds up to eight of your friends! The middle is cut out, so you can all cool your feet and jump in and out of the water. The product weighs about 69 pounds, so you know it's built tough. This is a summer time must and looks like tons of fun!

Gurbaksh Chahal - Trifecta?

2009-08-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

My Money is on Gurbaksh!

With two companies (BlueLithium and Click Agents) envisioned, built, and sold by age of 25; Gurbaksh has amassed over $340 million in sales of his two businesses based in Internet advertising.

Gurbaksh or "G," has the Midas touch when it comes to online ads. That's why I am super excited to hear what he has coming up within the next year. The $300 million deal closed with Yahoo! acquiring BlueLithium on October 15, 2007 (according to G's book: The Dream.), which by my calculations releases Chahal from his three year non-compete clause in mid October of 2010. World get ready!

I have become a big fan of G's since I first saw some of his interviews on TV. I immediately understood being misunderstood for being to business minded and so young. I felt G's experiences as I read through his book. So G, if you ever find yourself reading this blog...
I am proud of you for business success! I appreciate your Indian and Sikh roots that have been long misunderstood, and wish you and your family the best from here on out! May you find unparalleled business success in your future & God Bless.

P90X

2009-08-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

On the wish list

Do you want ripped abs? (Yes). Do want arms you can refer to as guns? (Yes). Do you want to be in the best shape of your life for one low price? (Yes! That sounds like something I would like... and low price means I'm a smart consumer!).

Ah, the infomercial... an industry of profit. While I can say that most of them are bogus and make me laugh, every now and then one comes a long that hooks me. I can honestly say that Tony Horton's P90X Extreme Home Fitness system hooked me. From the first time I saw the commercial, I wanted to order the P90X system.

I feel like this system is completely legit. Why? Because everyone on it praises its result to hard work! Something that time and time again proves to be the only way accomplish things. Its infomercials tell that it will be hard! Which gives it credibility. So I am giving P90X a huge endorsement and am adding it to my "To Get List."

200 Five Star Ratings from customers (*****)
13 DVDs
Calendar
Fitness Guide
Nutrition Guide
Work Out Log

Kicking MySelf

2009-08-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Yep... I am kicking myself. I missed a big trade! The Japanese Yen, and by my own advice! Go back and check my post August Trading - Week One '09. The Japanese Yen was right at 1.0500 and I said if breaks down to take that trade! Guess who didn't follow his own advice? Yep... Me (idiot).

If you go back and read my post you'd see that my profit point was on the modest side but still a great trade none the less. Oh well, we have big potential downside on sugar at the moment and I have my broker working on a put option there. Keep your eyes peeled and don't hesitate... it costs money to hesitate.

Trading in HD!

2009-08-08T02:54:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen... the new way to check charts and quotes! This is the way I want to conduct my trading right here. Imagine checking your trade account on the new Philips 19PFL3504D/F7 19-Inch 720p LCD HDTV. That's a mouthful right?

Anyway, this bad boy has great image quality. The price is right for what it is. 7.1 x 19 x 14.7 inches! At only $228? Get out of here. Pick one of these bad boys up soon. I know I am.

August Trades: Keeping an eye on wheat

2009-08-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

Futures Trading

Looking for trades, I came across across a couple of charts I really liked. One being the wheat. It has broken so low, that I think there is some good potential buy signals that will form soon. However, always be cautious of how low commodities can go. There are many horror stories of this. Anyway, the wheat has just dumped the last couple of days, you can see by the chart below. Keep an eye on this market!

Fox Gear Hoodis

2009-08-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

I've always been a big fan of Motocross. In fact, I've been a bigger fan of X-games style sports rather than ball based sports (Baseball, Football, Soccer, Basket Ball, etc.) for as long as I can remember. Even back before guys like Rob Dyrdek, Tony Hawk, and Shaun White were household names.

I remember when Travis Pastrana was like 13 or 14 appearing on Crusty Demons of Dirt. That type of stuff. Back before every kid from the age of 12 and up, walked around with a flat billed skater hat and wearing a hoodie with the pattern repeating across 70,000 times. So my taste is more the old school style, a more simple style of hoodie. I came across this sweet Fox racing Vector style hoodie for men. It's on my list of hoodies for the fall.

To go with it, I really like these Fox shades. It has that repeating pattern that I'm not big a fan of, but it is more subtle... so it's not so bad. Plus the white on bands (which you can't see to well due to the small image here, but can get better view if click the link and then enlarge the image) on the shades compliment the color of the hoodie. Anyway, check them out. They are on my hit list.

August Trading - Week One '09

2009-08-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Trading Watch

Market one on the watch. The Japanese Yen. I'm looking at the charts, and the daily caught my eye. Back on July 8, 10, and 13 the market tested 1.0900. Then fell pretty consistently over the next couple weeks. It's forming a nice trend (although a choppy market...) downward if draw trend line over the tops and under the bottoms. With the Japanese Yen trends drawn you can watch for break outs both up and down. I think the 1.0300 area would be a likely area this market would pull back to. So maybe set a target of 1.0370 to take a profit. Conversely I like the 1.08250 area for some upside cash.

Want to see something sick?

2009-08-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

Ripstik Mini DLX Board

This crazy little ride is made by Razor. So what makes it cool? Well, lets start by 9 out of 10 customers give this bad boy a full 5 star rating! 90% of this products owners give it a 100%! Those are big numbers!

Ok still not impressed... let's continue.

Has an increased angle kick tail and kick nose.
Aluminium torsion bar
This bad boy is extremely light weight
ABEC-7 bearings
Great product for kids. Easy to manuever

Grab a Monster Energy Drink, jump on, and Check it out!

Launch Ramp Promo

2009-08-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

The Ten Eighty Launch Ramp

Alright all you little Rob Dyrdek, Monster Energy T shirt wearing, shaggy haired kids! It was brought to my attention that Ten Eighty makes an at home launch ramp that is actually a pretty good deal. It looks like it retails for $29.00 and is a compatible component of an at home skate park system that you can by piece by piece. At that price this thing is a freakin' steal and I thought I'd promote it here on BizTone.

If you don't mind spending a little coin, you can get some pretty decent add ons. Check it out!

Alright, doubt you'll be breaking Rob Dyrdek's major grind that set a world record... but if you looking for a practice grind rail.... that's affordable, check it out!

Biztone Promotes!

2009-07-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy Promo!

So, what kind of Business blog would I be running if I didn't occasionally promote some kick ass products? Not a very good one, that's the kind. So I'm droppin some stuff on you guys that you should check out.

The first... MONSTER ENERGY GEAR! Want to run around looking like a mini Rob Dyrdek? Don't lie to me... I know you do. Check this new Monster Energy gear from Amazon!

The next item is an awesome DC backpack. The DC Gooley 2 Snowboard pack to be exact. Yeah, I know... a little Dyrdek crazy... but this shwag is sweet. The price is decent too. Anyway, just go check it all out. More options on Amazon.

Good Sell On The Canadian Dollar?

2009-07-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

Trading the Canadian Dollar

Looks like the Canadian Dollar is testing some resistance right around 0.9300. We've had some downward action the last two days here and it looks like the daily chart says there is a lot more room to continue. The weekly chart however... seems to paint a different picture. Some I'm not exactly confident with this trade. The only aspect that would be of reassurance, is the fact that these markets all are bouncing around, or chopping sideways. If this were one of the downward cycles of a sideways pattern... then they might be a quick in and out trade here.

The other thing that I like here is the slow moving stochastic is turning down from a really high position. So, I guess I'll just end up checking it all out in the morning. Check it out below to the see the slow moving stochastic... form your own opinion.

Inspecting Gurbaksh Chahal

2009-07-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

Who is Gurbaksh Chahal? Well, I'm not sure to be exact... So why am I writing about him? Simple. He's a Multi-Millionaire. I wrote about Gurbaksh back in January, when I first saw an interview on TV with this young big shot. Impressed by his demeanor and accolades, I had to learn more.

Today, I stumbled across an old gift card I had lying around. It is to one of my favorite bookstores, locally owned and operated... which is becoming very important to me. I recalled asking her to order this book back when I got my copy of Steve Martin's book Born Standing up. I wondered if she (the owner of the bookstore) still had a copy of The Dream, Gurbaksh's book, there.

Sure enough, the book was there. I picked it up and reminded her that I had ordered it over six months ago! We laughed, and then talk turned to business. I told her about how I was in insurance sales for a stint, and we began talking about marketing. She asked me as being a previous business owner, if I had ever done any local marketing. She started to tell me all about a Facebook marketing campaign she was currently running. It was very enlightening and interesting.

I thanked her and left after a while, as she had other customers enter and ask for help. Here I am now, ready to tear into my new copy of Chahal's book: The Dream. Ready to soak up any business insights I can!

From the rear cover of The Dream: How I learned the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship and made millions.

At the age of sixteen, Gurbaksh Chahal made a life-altering decision.

He would leave school to pursue his dream and make millions as an internet entrepreneur. But it was complicated. He had to convince his father, who had a dream of his own. He had emigrated from India to provide a better life for his family and a good education for his childern. Gurbaksh did convince him, and by the time he was eighteen, he was a millionaire. This is the story of how his dream came true and how yours can, too.

My Money & Their Spending.

2009-07-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

My Money & more of my money

I just sent off $270+ to department of revenue, for my 2008 income taxes. Trust me, I don't mind contributing my fair share... but I am extremely concerned about how it all will be used. Now granted, it is minimal amount in the grand scheme of things, but still. It seems as if our government officials, the ones who decide where money goes and how money is spent, has turned into a circus. Well, I shouldn't say that... because there are very professional circuses out there that are very financially responsible, profitable, and sustainable. Take Circus Circus and Circus Olay for example.

I had some errands that I was taking care of today, and while I was driving around, I was listening to News Talk on AM radio. They speaking about bailout money and how the government was using funds. Turns out a lot of the bailout budget hasn't been used yet, and a lot that has been used, has been repaid by the large financial institutions it was loaned to. Yet, even with all this, they are still considering ANOTHER bailout!

Here's the major problem, we have a lot of people in the government that don't have to answer to anyone. The old idea is that they had to answer to the public, this is not the case any more. They spend freely, and often not in the interest of the public, but in the interest of themselves and their connections. There is not a check and balance system for this type problem. It is very frustrating and angering.

My favorite kind of money

2009-07-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

Favorite kind of Money

Ah summer time. For most it's a time for vacation, relaxation, and sun. Well scratch all of those for me. No sun today... it might even rain! Busiest time of year at work. Vacation is being put off a little longer this year. Tonight however, is time for a little fun.

It's time for a little wagering. Now... granted, there is no Smarty Jones or Funny Cide here. Even still, the low stakes can be fun! Money won, at least for me, is so much sweeter than money earned! It's my favorite kind of money! Last year, July 15th, I won $140 on a $6 bet. Hoping to have a repeat of that and maybe even some possible multiple wins! If not, it will still be a lot of fun!

Friends, Beer, and horses! That's tonight's agenda. Other than that, I am watching the Crude Oil for some indication of bullish trading. The monthly looks like a 50% retracement that is wanting to go higher. We'll see.

Keep an eye on the B-pound

2009-07-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

Possible British Pound Trade?

I'm kind of curious about a formation on the British Pound Charts. The formation is taking place on the monthly trading charts. Early last fall, my dad made a great trade to the downside. It was a big drop!

Since then, the pound chopped down low... kind of consolidated, and then, this May, jumped back up a bit. What I am curious about is if this is a 50% retracement or maybe an up tick, to turn around and go for a double bottom. Good money both ways, the problem is first, deciding if my two predictions are accurate. Then, deciding what the market will do.

The best options are probably just watch the hourly chart, the daily chart, and the weekly chart for direction. I will have to call my broker in the morning to see if he has any other details or input I should know about. Until, I'll keep scanning the charts and markets for more trades.

Be the best

2009-06-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

Dedication

Dedication is the topic of today's post. I'm am not talking about the kind of dedication a person devotes to their favorite sports team. This isn't about buying a jersey, hanging posters up on the wall, and maybe getting rare tickets to the next big game. No, this is the kind dedication (or possibly even obsession) for the details. The boring, mundane, gritty details. The type of details that very few want to know. Where does your favorite athlete work out. What is their schedule. What type of shoes do they wear to work out in. How was their last cancer screening, or basic check up. Do they have allergies, etc.

Now that you know the depth of dedication I am talking about, the dedication to being the best, I can move on to my post. The dedication to perfection. I saw this type of dedication today in a report provided to me by my broker. The CME(Chicago Mercantile Exchange) has this type of dedication to trading.

The CME Group held a summit for the 2009 Corn, Soybean, and Wheat markets. In this report experts from all over gave reports and outlooks for trading on the next couple of months. Every single detail that could give a trader an edge was outlined. Past weather patterns, sunspot trends, foreign demand for our commodities, and more! I sat astounded by how meticulously in depth these traders and trading companies get.

The summit included many important guests. Susan Sutherland, who is the Director of Commodities for the CME Group was there. She introduced the guest speakers and outlined the summit. David Hightower the principal of Hartfield Trading Partners. Drew Lerner, Owner, World Weather, Inc.

The bottom line (or lesson to take away) here is to know your craft. It is no secret how volatile and dangerous the commodities markets are. It is because of big, powerful companies and traders who know exactly what they are doing. For this reason a lone, they are extremely successful and make lots of money. In conclusion, this post is to remind all traders out there (myself especially) how important it is to dedicate yourself to what you do. If you want to have success, you must pursue it. Strive for it. Study it.

(Image Credit goes to Trine de Florie)

First profits on new account

2009-06-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Called the broker today. We covered the short side of the corn trade. We locked in just under $500 dollars in profit and now have some time for corn to start trading to the upside. The grain reports on Alaron.com support the trade and point to some promising buying potential on the beans. For now the idea is keep the long option and keep my eye on the futures there.

Read the beginning of my corn spread here.

Some more dusty notes

2009-06-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

Continuing with notes I want to document, I found more to add to this blog. I thought I'd dust them off and keep them here. Too many loose papers lying around.

Keep things simple. Those who make things hard, lead a hard life.

In other words, focus on the fundamentals. Don't over complicate things. Do what needs to be done. Build a solid foundation, before you begin the structure.

If you don't have any motivated people in your corporation, that want to build the business and have the vision with you... GO FIND SOME!

It's hard enough building a business, let alone trying to drag people along who aren't motivated. Make sure to recruit people who already have a burning desire to succeed. If they aren't in line, with the needed vision for the good of your budding company, either get rid of them, or push them to the side, and find someone who wants to help steer the ship in the direction it needs to be headed.

Change without change, is not change!

Moving from an employee mind set, to an entrepreneur mind is very hard. Often times, people get lazy and/or make excuses to put vital work off. There is also no one there to hold you accountable, so being lazy or timid is easy. You must change to run your business, and it will not build itself.

Rob Dyrdek - Skate 2 Fantasy Factory

2009-06-08T02:55:00.000-07:00

By now, if you read my blog, you know that I am a huge fan of Rob Dyrdek. Why wouldn't I be? Every thing this man touches turns to gold. The man is a walking product! It's like he was born onto the top of a meeting table in a of corporate board room of marketing executives.

I love playing video games, and Rob Dyrdek has a sweet new one out. I came across Rob Dyrdek's new video game, skate 2. It looks super sweet.

Skate 2 - Fantasy Factory Trailer
by ElectronicArts

Ambition

2009-06-08T01:10:00.000-07:00

You've got to have ambition

Anything worth doing, is worth doing right. Anything worth starting, is worth finishing. To be successful, in anything, ambition is most certainly key.

This post will mainly focus on prospecting and recruiting scenarios. Most of my business experience has been focused in prospecting and recruiting. Much of my formal and informal trainings are concentrated here in these two areas.

Like I said earlier, ambition is key. Look at it this way, you will always be able to find a million reasons to quit anything that is hard. Human beings are great at justifying things. Coming up with a reason to quit would not be hard at all, but you only need to find one reason to stay. It is a simple game of choices (to stay the course) vs. excuses.

There is something called the Three Foot Rule. The three foot rule is simply a tactic you use to ensure that you are always focused and building your business. Here is how the Three Foot Rule works... anytime someone is within three feet of you, you are talking to them about your service, product, or business. Sounds annoying right? Well, it would be if you used this technique in a tactless manner.

A great way to initiate the Three foot rule is to use F.O.R.M. Which stands for: Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Money. These topics are all great icebreakers when first meeting a person. Eventually, when you build up a tact full and usable ability to master the art of small talk, you can spin any of these topics into your business, product, or service... especially the last one (money).

One great thing about the Three Foot Rule and F.O.R.M is that they lead into conversation. Inevitably, conversation leads to three main things. Which are:

What's happening
Wishes
How rotten things are.

If you are good, you will steer the conversation in the direction of the third. From here, you should be able to present a solution to problems people are having. When using these tactics, remember that you are fishing, not hunting. You don't want to chase anyone, you want to lure them. Be the expert, with solutions to their problems.

Final thoughts:

Remember that you can't say the wrong thing to the right person. Inversely, you can't ever say the right thing, to the wrong person. So when in doubt, blurt it out. When you do, and every time you get a "no," just simply tell yourself that it is success slapping you in the face, trying to get you to quit.

12 Steps to perfect a meeting

2009-06-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

In the business meeting

In continuing through my notes, I came across 12 useful steps to either conducting or attending business meetings. These steps hold relevant still. Read through the business notes and incorporate the things that you find useful into your meetings!

12 steps:

Dress Professionally. This may seem very straight forward. The old adage is very true, "Dress For Success." Don't let the old business-causal is ok at times, but if you are serious about getting new prospects or clients, you want to dress professional.
Leave the negatives in the car or at home. People are drawn to positive and professional people. Negativeness is very contagious. You don't want anything negative spilling over into what you are presenting or pitching.
No Children. Junior may be adorable and cute... but keep things professional. Kids get board at meetings and this can lead to very serious distractions when you are pitching vital sales. Do yourself and your business a favor, get a sitter.
Arrive Early (Premeeting). Aside from the early bird getting the worm, arriving early shows you mean business. This also gives you valuable time to correct any unforeseen mistakes or problems. It also gives you time to have a pre-meeting with your prospect or client. Warm them up, get them talking and relaxed.
Seat your guest up front. This pertains more to seminar style meetings, or meetings for large groups. The front keeps people more engaged in what is happening and in what is being said. This also can be flipped and used as a tactic to make them feel more important (or that you are an important figure). Make sure to introduce them to any key people or speakers in the pre-meeting... letting the key person (or speaker) know that you and your guest will be upfront (make sure that your guest hears you telling the speaker you'll be up front), this will reinforce that they are with someone important.
Introduce your guest to others. This will put them at ease. It will also create a feeling of belonging or being included in this group. This will in turn put them into a mind set of owning the ideas or company, by feeling that they have common goals with the group.
Participate. Clap for the speaker, nod, laugh, raise hands. Smile and get excited.
Don't leave the room. It discounts what is happening. Why should this meeting be important to your client or prospect, if you don't take it seriously? Give the speaker the respect they deserve and don't walk out.
No Talking. This is another thing that discounts what is happening. You need to emphasize that what is being said is important. Don't let idle side talk distract you or distract your guest.
Do not interrupt the speaker. Aside from just being rude... this kind of goes with the previous step. Your speaker has important information. You need to listen to it.
Testimonials. Testimonials help build belief. Whether it's in your business, your speaker, or your product. Endorse! Validate!
Have literature packets or necessary info. Arm your guest, clients, or prospect with info. Give them something to hold on to, follow along with, and get engaged. Involving the sense of touch helps to actually cement things they hear and learn. Studies show that the more senses that are involved in learning something new, the more is retained by the memory. (Sight, sound, and touch!)

From the vault...

2009-06-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

Business Notes and scraps of paper

I found some old papers tonight. Over seven years old to be exact! They are notes from both Market America seminars and Quixtar Seminars.

There is some great advice that was lying dormant in these notes, but the paper needs to go. I thought I'd post them on here. Hopefully, you will read something here that helps you in some way!

3% of the American people write goals. (What does this say about why most are not rich?)

Schools teach people become hard working and highly qualified employees.

"Life by an inch is a sinch, life by the yard is hard."

The difference between success and failure is simple. The individual who succeeds simply does what the failure did not do.

Set a goal to walk away from your job and work for yourself.

Don't let people get in your way.

Visionaries are the ones who end up making their dreams mesh with their lives.

Goals:

If you get into a car, you need a destination... other wise you are just driving around. Wandering aimlessly. While that's fine if you're out for a joy ride, it doesn't work so well when you are starting a business or striving for success of any kind.

How do you set a goal? Well, a goal without a number... really isn't a goal at all. It's a slogan. You need a time line of when things will be accomplished. Here's how you can break it down into short term goal dates:

Monthly: Yearly goal divided by 12.
Weekly: Take you monthly goal, and divide by 4
Daily: The weekly goal, divided by 7.

If you want your business to generate $120,000 a year... then you must be bringing in $10,000 a month. In order to make $10,000 a month, you must be bringing in $2,500 a week. In order to do that you must be making $357.14 a day. Once you can find out these type of specifics, it makes it much easier to see where you are and what needs to be adjusted.

Well, that was page one of seven. I hope that something here has sparked an idea or helped solve a problem. Best wishes with all endeavours and I'll be posting more to come!

Bullish Corn Spread

2009-06-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

My broker called me with an idea on corn. I took a look at the charts, and he explained his idea to me. After a little while, I decided it looked like a good trade.

Moving forward we took a bullish spread. Shorting the July contract and long a September. The spread was filled at 17'0 (and not 19'0 like we had thought, due to a pit order we couldn't confirm).

It looks like corn had a big drop today, but recovered and closed just a bit below the open... which is fine. I'm looking for a bit of a drop in the short term (or sideways action to give me some time decay). We'll keep watching corn and hopefully report a gain on this trade in the future.

Ah ha! (Now I can't sleep)

2009-06-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

The Ah-ha moment

Tonight was one of those nights where I just felt drained. I was up very late last night, and up extremely early today with the broker on the phone. By the time I got home this evening, the girlfriend and I were on the couch and basically both passed out. It was one of those times, when you wake up an hour and a half later and call it a night. Turn off the TV and head to bed.

This is when I'm supposed to remain tired and fall asleep, right? Of course not. The silence throughout our place was deafening. My mind started to wander. Through my cognitive rambling, I started to think about bills, business, money, and the like.

I started to think about business ideas my business partner and I had approached, and bounced off each other. I thought about all the ideas that have worked for us in the past, and those failures we had had as well. I thought about the ones that seemed fail-proof, that were in all actuality full of holes. I also thought about the ideas that were good, but got lost somewhere along the way. What went wrong? What could we do to improve them? Which ones had the most profit potential? What would make those profitable ones appealing to the masses?

As I silently quizzed myself, there in bed, it started to piece itself together like some sort of fuzzy puzzle in my head. I would have to create some kind of hybrid that couples the advantages of all the good ideas from the past, has very few holes (and those it does have could either be fixed easily, or out-sourced to those more intelligent than myself), and most importantly has mass appeal (this is where the income generation would stem from).

It would have to be an idea that, once released, and pushed a little, could take on its own life (think of pushing a resting rock over the crest of a hill). Something that would create a ripple effect across the net, and perpetuate itself.

Once it started to spread, it would need to be able to automate itself, and handle the masses accessing it. To spread, what would it be that made it appealing? It would need to be something both beneficial and interesting enough to generate a lot of users.

I think I have it figured out. I took several things that already exist, that seem all very different, but in reality are very much the same and actually compliment each other very nicely in both their functionality and has mass need. People already use all things, why not blend them, and make it much easier and convenient? I think it would be, well, frankly, stupid of me to say what it is at this point...

I assure my readers that when the time comes, you be the first to know. You'll find it at http://www.biz-tone.blogspot/ first. You will also be encouraged to be the first to participate, explore, and utilize the aspects of the site!

(Photo Credit for the beautiful light bulb image goes to Roma Flowers)

Guest Blog!

2009-06-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

I always welcome guest posts here at Biz Tone. Today's post is just that. The author's name is Ben Johnson of Logoinn.

What makes a logo design company want to charge more?

The Internet has given an advantage to small businesses, to get their logo designed online from their home/office without having to meet with a logo designer. However, we can see the major difference in prices of these logo design companies. Some are charging thousands of dollars for a logo, whereas some are quite cheap and providing the same quality of work for a few dollars. But confusion arises here for a business owner, as to hire which company in order to get a perfect logo for his company.

The question is why are these companies so different in their pricing? There are several factors that make companies vary in price. In this piece of writing, we will see three of the most important factors that influence the price of designing a logo. And as a business owner you should check these factors before hiring one.

The first and the foremost factor, which influences a lot, is the Level of Service a logo design company can provide. Usually, the level of service depends on the package you select. Therefore, check all the service options written on the website with every package before placing an order.

The service level of a logo design company can generally be determined by:
1. Number of designers who will design your logo
2. Number of initial concepts provided at the first stage
3. Number of rounds of revisions (changes in a logo upon request)
4. Turnaround time (time span of providing the initial concepts)
5. Money back guarantee, if a logo design company fails to provide the design according to your will.

The second important factor that makes the design company charge a higher amount is the Quality of design. If you find a company that assures the quality of their work and asks for $1000, it means you also ask for the best design ever to get back the value of your money.

In order to find how much a company is qualified in providing a quality design, you can check:
1. Design portfolio of the company
2. Testimonials written by their previous customers
3. Years of experience in the business
4. Knowledge they have about logo designing

One other factor which should not be excluded from the checklist is the Location of a company. If you hire a design company, which is located outside of your country, for instance China or India, may charge you the very least, but it would nearly impossible for you to catch the company and take legal action against it, if you unluckily come under the trademark infringement because of copying any other logo. Moreover, a company which is located in the same country as yours, it brings an advantage for your business because they can understand the need of your local market, and at the end of the day you get a logo according to your local marketplace.

Remember, it’s not the price; it’s the quality of your logo, which will rightly portray the message of your business to the target audience and make you to stand out in the crowed. You will possibly use your logo for at least 10 years, and if you divide the cost with the number of months, it only comes out to a few dollars a month. By having these thoughts in mind, it is clear that price should not be considered in order to get maximum benefits from your logo in long run.

A small bio:
This is guest post from Ben Johnson of Logoinn, custom logo design service provider based in UK.

More Favorite Famous Quotes

2009-05-29T00:25:00.001-07:00

Quotes

"Crafty men deal in generalizations."
-Anonymous

Wow... I could write a book on what this quote says here. How it applies to experiences I've had in sales and more. I completely agree with this one! I love it.

"Success: The one unpardonable sin against one's fellows."
-Ambrose Bierce

This one reminds me first of my business partner. He loves the idea of success being the sweetest revenge to the nay sayers. Admittedly, I do too.

"Footprints on the sands of time are not made made by sitting down."
-Anonymous

Amazing.

"The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their best interests to promote yours."
-Jean de La Bruyere

Understand the weight of this statement, then implement it, and you will become a millionaire.

"Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose."
-Baltasar Gracian.

Another Set of Eyes

2009-05-26T10:33:00.001-07:00

Trading Account Broker

Today, we switched over my Vantage Point trading software license number to our broker. He is much more reliable at checking the program than I am. I've been using that software about as frequently as I have been updating this blog (here I am two weeks later updating since my last post). A little embarrassing? Yeah. A better choice? Yes, as well. Hopefully, this will turn into a very profitable decision.

I did a little market review today and it looks like the S&P 500 had nice rally on the hour chart. It shot back up past the 900 mark, with a high of 909.50! Trading at 878.5o just before. Nice little gain for anyone long at that point. Hope some of you guys caught that trade!

Ok... Now what?

2009-05-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the problem...
Last week, I sent in a payment for 10 issues of BestLife Magazine. I received my statement in the mail, wrote them the check, and then mailed the payment off late last week. I'd say on Saturday, I went and got the mail. My newest issue of BestLife had arrived. I thumbed through the pages, to see what kind of articles were in this issue. Set it down and went on about my day.

Later, I returned and picked the magazine back up. I stopped on the editor's note. Something along the lines of "...you hold in your hands the very last issue of BestLife." Um... ok? I just sent you a check. Don't you think if you guys were going to stop printing this magazine, you'd fore go sending me a statement? How about a note or something that says "We're going out of business... sorry."?

(Photo Credit to svilen mushkatov)

Mortgage and Credit Score

2009-05-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mortgage

Currently, I am looking at where my abilities are to obtain a mortgage loan. The real estate market has a lot of inventory at the moment, and prices are once again reasonable for first time home buyers. In this case, I am a first time home buyer.

I met with a friend (who is a mortgage broker) today, who I know through my stint in insurance. We went over my credit scores, income, and my over all financial situation. After some research, unfortunately I am not in a position to qualify. My income is fine, but it is in my credit score and credit history.

Credit score

As far as credit scores go at the moment, it looks like the magic number is above 620. My credit is at 599, which is due to payment logistics after leaving insurance and transitioning back to my old job. At the time, I had delinquencies on an account or two, due to cash flow issues.

If you are looking for any type of loans at the moment (e.g. An auto loan, or a home loan), make sure you have clean credit for at least two years. Mine has been clean for roughly 16 months. Once I make it to 24 months of clean credit, I should be approved with no problems.

Helpful credit ideas:

Attain and maintain a credit score above 620.

Have a clean credit history for at least 24 months. (No delinquencies, do not go into collections, or have the account closed by the lender.)

Try and have a healthy down payment in the realm of 20% or so. If this is simply too much for your budget or income, get a down payment as close to 20% as you can. (Shoot for a minimum of at least 5%.)

Account and breakfast.

2009-04-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 3:55am today. After that, I could not get back to sleep. I laid there, wide awake, trying not to wake my girlfriend from my constant tossing and turning. I finally decided to get up and call my broker. I thought maybe I could use my time a little more productively and learn some about my new trading account.

I called him, apparently my dad was on the phone with his partner (they share an office). They needed some sort of online signature, on an agreement or something. I'll check my email for that. Should be back to market watching and trading in no time (which means, probably early next week).

I also made some eggs and had 12-grain toast for breakfast. I'm going to start being a lot more strict about what I eat, as I'm convinced I'm on my way to a heart attack... if I don't. I started following http://eatingright.blogspot.com/, and will try and use some of those meals. Anyway, I tried to go for over medium on my eggs, and that didn't work at all. I overcooked them. I watched a short video on MySpace on how to cook eggs over medium. Salsa helped save the eggs I made.

Other than that, trying to get back into the habit of updating. Hope all trading is going well out there. Watch out for that swine flu.

(Photo credit goes to bizior)

Buying a new house

2009-04-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Real Estate

Just about a year ago, I wrote about a refreshing recession, and honestly... I didn't really count on how ugly this could become. At the same time, however... it may help my girlfriend and I get into a house. To become first time home buyers (which comes with a slue of discounts and tax advantages), which about a year ago looked impossible for us.

There is townhouse here, that is going for around $120,000. The bank is dropping $5,000 dollars off the price tag every week until it sells. The last estimated monthly payment on this property was roughly $600. That's $185 less than we are currently paying for rent now! To be able to jump into the real estate market at a discount!??! That how people build wealth!

Instead of throwing money away every month on rent, we could be building equity in a property at a discount! It's a smart move. That is one avenue that we are considering.

I've contacted a mortgage broker that I know through my old insurance gig, and will be seeing where the numbers lie with our current credit scores and debt to income ratio. If we can get it all to hash out, then I will move forward aggressively. It may be time to take advantage of any possible real estate opportunities that are out there.

Other options I have planned on weighing out would also include foreclosures and short sales. We recently heard about a lady that my girlfriend knows, who was able to buy a place that was being foreclosed on for $58,000. Included, the bank threw in free landscaping and appliances. Apparently, the previous owners had not finished the lawn, and when evicted, took the appliances. If these types of deals are out there and available... we'd be crazy not to capitalize on this market!

Credit Card Hassle

2009-04-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

Credit Card Debt

Make sure, when dealing with credit cards and credit card debts, that you hassle the lender. Don't let the lender hassle you. Let me explain.

Today, I was paying my bills. My credit card statement came, and I was surprised by the "fees and finance charges." My minimum payment? $39.00. The amount charged in fees? $33.00!!!!

I called the toll free number and spoke with an "account representative." I asked why my interest was 29%. He told me it was due to late payments (which, admittedly is true). I told him that even still... it was kind of ridiculous. I simply asked "Is there any way I can get that lowered?" He responded with bad acting (and no argument). "Well, let me see here. We usually can't do this... oh, looks like I can do it as a one time courtesy... blah, blah, blah."

Creditors and debtors are horrible. Don't give them an inch... because they'll take your whole damn paycheck. Keep them in check, and don't be afraid to call them on their bogus garbage.

Persistence

2009-04-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Persistence of a worthwhile pursuit.

Little things, over time, add up. Whether it is pieces of dirt on the body of a dead dinosaur, or a leak under your bathroom sink. If you are consistent, over a long enough period of time, all that you do will have a noticeable impact.

This is the idea behind compound interest... thought to be one of the greatest financial phenomenons of all time. Great companies are built on perseverance. In fact, http://www.biz-tone.blogspot.com/ saw most of its traffic after the second year. This site grew leaps and bounds after the bulk of the content had been made. It continues to grow even when I get lazy and don't update.

Think of the Chinese. One day, they started building a wall. Two or three hours into the undertaking... it probably wasn't all that impressive. A month later, it probably was something impressive. A year later, it was legend, a force.

All things in life are such. This is something I have realized at a rather young age. You have to do, to accomplish. If you look back at my post Be Relentless, I talk about this very thing. It is something that as of late, I stopped contributing and sort of checked out for a while. The great danger here, is that doing nothing compounds a hell of a lot faster over time, than doing a little here and there.

This lesson is most evident with NASA calculations. Tiny adjustments have been known to alter a shuttle's path by thousands of miles. Here are a few quick steps for you to take to make sure you stay on your course.

5 steps

Map out your end goal. Knowing what you want to achieve, will give you something to aim at. Just like an archer with a target board, the bull's eye is the objective. Shots can be taken and the aim adjusted, until the end result is achieved. The most important part of the process is knowing what to aim at.
Build slow and concise. It'd be one thing if the ancient Egyptians had created the worlds biggest pile of stone and bricks. However, if you want to create your world wonder, it is best to do what they did. Build a very solid foundation, and slowly and concisely build your way to greatness.
Make adjustments along the way. It is better to start, mess up, and then adjust. Some people never get started, just because they are so focused on having every single little detail right and planned out. This is an impossible task. Edison had to take 10,000 shots at making the light bulb work. His knowledge was built upon his failures. You have to know what doesn't work, to make it work sometimes.
Get the input of others. Sometimes you don't see all the angles. It's ok to ask for help, or criticism. The cell phone would have never been invented if it weren't for the original Telephone. That type of thing. Use the brilliance of others to perfect your own.
Perfect the product, service, etc. Once you have the rough draft, create the final. Polish the stone until it shines. Iron out all wrinkles. Once you're here... you're ready to show the world.

Be Relentless!

2009-04-12T02:39:00.000-07:00

Every now and then we lose motivation. I have lost my motivation big time lately! It is probably more than evident in my inability to post lately. Which is horrible for someone who wants to be serial entrepreneur! Because only an undying, unwavering, non-yielding, RELENTLESS drive is going to make you rich. I'm not talking about buy a Ferrari at age 52 rich... I'm talking disgusting, unhealthy, unnatural rich. The kind of bank account that creates it's own gravity field, that kind of rich.

The definition of RELENTLESS is:

That does not relent; unyieldingly severe, strict, or harsh; unrelenting (dictionary.com).

Synonyms:

Rigid, unbending, obdurate, adamant, unyielding

Our old buddy Rob Dyrdek, has this word tattooed on his arm, as his self reminder. A media mogul, a sports mogul. Rob has that "never say die" type of attitude it takes to run an empire. You don't stop and ask if your ideas will work... you just go for it and adjust the proverbial sails as needed. The key is act! Once the wheels are in motion, be RELENTLESS!

Monster Energy Tank!

2009-04-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

Monster Energy Tank

I thought I'd throw a quick update out there for all you Monster Energy junkies. If you guys are looking for some more Monster Energy shwag for the summer, check out this quick link to the tank. It's black and has the green classic Monster Energy logo on it. Anyway, not much other than that! Check it out. See ya soon guys.

How Do I Get Rich? 5 Steps.

2009-04-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

How Do I Get Rich?

Here's the deal. We're not all rap stars, we're not all Hollywood actors. Most of us out there just get by working one job, sometimes we don't even get by.

I've been studying a lot about personal finance lately and few simple ideas and some straight forward thinking go a long way in building your personal wealth. A few of these ideas are taken from Jim Cramer's book: Stay Mad For Life. Some are from Rich Dad, Poor Dad's Robert T. Kiysaki. Some are my own, and many others just points of good advice and wisdom I've heard from time to time.

There are some major steps to take in order to lay a solid financial foundation for your long term wealth. In order to become rich, you must eliminate bad debt and anything that cuts into your investment capital (savings, according to Jim Cramer in his book: Stay Mad For Life).

A savings account is an important thing to have. I tend to see it as a place to accrue money and let it collect interest. As you build it up, it needs to be an aim of yours, for this account to become investment money.

Why invest? Well, simply stated, you'll never become wealthy until you learn to leverage your money. It may be Real Estate, Stocks, Bonds, Commodities, Businesses, Companies... whatever. You'll need to use your saved money to make more! It's the only way to multiply your Net Worth.

Rid yourself and your bottom line of all toxic debts! If you have an evil credit card charging you interest forever, they are taking your money! Why let some else compound interest against you, rather than you compounding your own interest? Think about it! If you need help with a good plan to squash your debts, check here!

Your money is only as good as its weakest asset. Once you start bringing in some cash, diversify! Don't leave your assets vulnerable to one area! Look at the rap moguls! From concerts and CD sales to clothes, clubs, labels, alcohol, real estate, etc. You can only go so far with one method. Also, any given method will ultimately have its own Achilles' heal (or weak point).

From here you want to look for vehicles that you can park money in and have it make you more money! Earn interest, let it compound upon its self. Reinvest. Become a lender with fair and safe lending strategies. Maybe look at trusts and endowments as options.

REVIEW:

Save and Accrue
Invest
Rid all debts or bad debts
Diversify
Make Money With Money

Open For Business!

2009-04-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

Options Trading Account

I got the call last week that my options trading account is now fully funded and open for business. I have to admit that I haven't paid much attention to the markets lately, due the fact that the account was inactive for so long.

I'm back into the mode of looking for opportunities for trades to make. With options, I have the ability to limit some risk with all the market madness that is happening now, and at the same time be able to capitalize on strong moves. I'm hoping this account change will prove to be a good decision.

Double Top Trend!

Right now, I just checked the DXM9 (US Dollar Index) contract weekly chart and think there is a double top trend happening! At just a glance, I am thinking of shorting this market at right around 82.250. From there... possibly having a cover target at around 77.5 or so.

60 Min Ascending Triangle

Looking at the 60 minute British Pound (B6M09) chart, there may be an ascending triangle forming. This is often a bullish in indicator. Judging by the daily chart there is plenty of room for this happen. We also had it close higher than the open on Friday, which has promising upside potential. The weekly chart fully supports this, this trade may be a stronger trade than the dollar.

I need to call my broker Monday. From there, get the account specifics, then figure out the trades. Those are the trades on my radar at the moment.

1% For The Planet

2009-03-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Donating Money

Tonight's post is to give an honorable mention to all business that is involved in sharing its profit with charity! Patagonia owner Yvon Chouinard, and his friend Craig Mathews (owner of Blue Ribbon Trout Flies) devised a charitable cause in which 1% of GROSS sales are donated to the environment! Since the inception of 1% For The Planet (the name of the cause), more than $42 million have gone to environmental organizations! A noted 1,044 members are participating in 37 countries. Part of the agreement these companies make is that they will contribute one percent, whether or not they are profitable! Could you imagine giving money away... even if you didn't have it? I think that's worth the honorable mention in itself! After the business's tax return is submitted to prove they have contributed, the contributing business is allowed to use the 1% FTP logo on all goods and services.

(Info. Source: April 2009, Best Life Magazine. Article title: It Works For Me... My Cause.)

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (a book by Yvon Chouinard)

A Good Read

2009-03-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, while grocery shopping, I strolled past the magazine isle. Usually, I don't waste my money on a $5.00 stack of stapled advertisements and articles. In the grand scheme of things, I find magazines to be a very trivial, non-necessity to the health of my wallet.

However, I had an urge to browse the shelf and turned down the isle. I scanned the covers and read the little blurbs surrounding the famous faces adorning the magazines. There are a few magazines I find value in. Money is one, I am a current subscriber to Fast Company, and have always appreciated Men's Health and it's off-shoot: BestLife.

Well, upon skimming the covers, the BestLife caught my eye. This month's cover reflects Sean Carter (aka Jay-Z) starring back at you, lapel in check. He sports a classic looking 3 piecer, with a checked neck tie plunging into a dress vest. I've always been a fan of Jay-Z's, first captivated by his music. I've been eternally drawn by his serial entrepreneuralism, always curious to hear of his next move.

The aspect of the magazine that actually sold me this time was an article on Nassim Taleb. I was almost sure I had blogged about him months ago, although I cannot find a post now. None the less, I was telling everyone who trades with me or who ever would listen, about his Black Swan book and his story of the Turkey and The Butcher. Taleb is a very fascinating man, and one who profited very handsomely from the recent market troubles. I first saw him on the Charlie Rose interview. It seems very recently he has become quite a public icon. I am very excited to read this article, I have yet to though.

I thought I'd end this post with the motivational Editor's Letter of this month's issue.

" Keep Running

At various times in my life- the economic collapse of the early 1990s, when I was broke; after my divorce in 2001, when I was broke (again); and in the aftermath of that divorce, when rebuilding my relationship with my children seemed like an impossible task- I've been able to coax myself out of despair with a simple mantra: It's a marathon, not a sprint. Sure, taking the lead in the race feels good, just as eating other's dust can put a catch in your throat, but where you are right now is only for right now. Success isn't about always being in the lead; success is about running a good race and recognizing that the lead position changes from moment to moment.

Right now, a lot of men who have considered themselves successful are suddenly feeling as if they've fallen behind, perhaps irredeemably so. As Jeff Csatari and Mike Zimmerman report[...], many executives are dealing with the sudden economic downturn by taking out their frustrations on themselves- working harder, stressing more, and in some cases, simply giving up. Too many of us identify our self-worth with the material trappings of our successes, and when the foundation of that success begins to crumble, so do we.

In this [...] issue, we're taking a look at success from a different angle- not as a finish line, but as a race in and of itself. We'll provide you with plenty of tools to beat stress before it becomes chronic and paralyzing. And you'll find hard-knock wisdom from entertainment mogul Jay-Z and best-selling author Nassim Taleb, who tells us how he predicted the market crash and how to prepare for the next one. As the financial world came apart at the seams in 2008, Taleb's gut instinct earned him an eight-figure payoff.

In the panic that has engulfed us during the current economic climate- when so many of us find ourselves much further from our moment at the podium than we expected- it's easy to forget that being a winner isn't about the place you are right now. It's about the choices you made to get where you are and the path you're following to the next stage in the race. This race may have a finish lie, but we don't know where it is. We can only keep moving forward.

It's not a sprint.

It's a marathon.

Stephen Perrine.

(BestLife Magazine, April 2009, Special Issue)

I look forward to a good read.

What Market Should I Trade?

2009-03-23T01:04:00.000-07:00

Markets To Trade

I'm taking a close look at the S&P 500 Futures. Analyzing the S&P 500 June contract (ESM9), I decided to do a break down of the charts, using all the different times frames to see what I could I could see. Looking at the Monthly chart, it would appear that the market may be testing some support like area at 735.00. The RSI Oscillator has bounced and is headed in an upward motion at the moment. MACD is showing a large gaped, separating and smoothing trend. This often forces the market upward, should the two lines cross. If they do not cross, look for a flattening out pattern, followed by more market decline. The promising oscillator here is the William's %R, which actually seems to have bottomed out sometime last week. This type of action usually will see some market bounce, at least allowing some bearish relief on the oscillator. If in the short term... as for the long term out look, I suppose that is still to be anticipated by the fundamental job reports and things of that nature.

Looking to the weekly chart now, my picture is a little more hazy. The reason being that William's %R has been skimming the lowest point since July of 2008. MACD has been crossing over, back and forth, and doesn't indicate much more than continued sideways action. It has pulled up slightly, so if MACD where to be giving any clue, I'd call it bullish... although, I wouldn't bet the ranch on it. RSI is almost worthless on this chart at the moment. My gut here says bearish still, but watch for wanting longs to recoup losses. Maybe some possible options strategies, with time decay goals? This market may also be subject to some quick upswings and brisk rallies, so be cautious.

Reading the Daily Chart, I am weary of the 800.00 level resistance that was tested twice on the 18Th, and 19Th. It looks as if the market had about a week's worth of quick bullish movement. It will be interesting to see what the market's open brings to this 800.00 level today. The RSI has a strong bullish pattern, but may have moved a little to far to the upside, a little to quickly for my comfort here. MACD is also a little squeamish on its direction as well. William's %R is telling me absolutely nothing on this chart. I'd watch for a close above 800.00 tomorrow to see if things start to get interesting with this market.

The Hour Chart is kind of difficult for me to read at the moment. There looks to be a lot of bullish movement tonight, which I would assume cannot continue into and throughout the trading day. It is possible, I feel unlikely. The RSI has taken on the look of hook, to the downside. It may just be blowing of some of the bullish steam, to continue higher, but also may be an indication of the market changing moment in the short term. The MACD here seems to headed upward, and moving away from skimming the -5 mark. Although, I'm starting to see the spacing between the lines growing, which often likes to lead to a quick cross, and turn around. I'd keep my eye on that. William's %R still shows plenty of upside room. So it's possible the upward movement could continue for a while. I'd watch for topping out of this oscillator if you have a bullish outlook on this market in the short term.

Finally, there is some good market Pivot, Support, and Resistance areas posted by Jeff Roy on Alaron.com, which would be a good place to check out and use to help with your trading parameters. Jeff is part of the Alaron research team, and has contact info at the bottom of his S&P reports. All charts are the property of Alaron.com.

Terrible T-bonds

2009-03-20T01:55:00.000-07:00

Futures Oopsie!

Sounds like dad got hit pretty hard yesterday on the 30-Year T-Bonds! The T-bonds saw their largest one day rally in treasury futures ever (according to Alaron.com). He had several options contracts that he was short on. He was either looking for time decay or bearish movement.

Look at the chart to the above! After the Fed made their announcement, the market blasted like nuts! It was even noted that the Federal Reserve will be adding over a trillion dollars in obligations to the balance sheet.

In my opinion, what is happening right now will be one of the major financial lessons in history. Call it Murphy's law or what ever the hell is the inverse of the Midas Touch is... but it just seems as if every bad choice, is being made... to fix already bad choices. It's almost as if a bucket of gasoline is being used in some sort of effort to extinguish a burning fire.

I'm honestly starting to wonder if we are capable of getting this all under control. Does the system have to break before we can fix it? We have the blind leading blind, and the corrupt in control of the money. Where's the accountability when you have the fat kid guarding the Oreos? Rome was once the world power and it fell... what makes America think it's any different?

Tax Time

2009-03-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Moving Money

Well, it appears that I just move my money from place to place now a days. I get my paycheck, deposit it, and then send the money off to my debtors. I just got my first check from the business my friend and I created today. Which was awesome! Then I called my tax person up and looks like I owe the state $65.00 and the tax people $148.00! So I'll just move money around again.

It's not so bad though, because my check from the company was $400.00. My total tax expenses are $213.00, leaving me with a gain of $187.00. A gain is obviously better than a loss, right?

As for trading futures, my focus has weaned a bit since my account is now in trading limbo. I'm waiting to hear more as far as that is concerned. Hopefully, soon, I'll know. I did look at Alaron last night, and looks like the Japanese Yen fell, I've been predicting this move for a while now. It's too bad I missed it.

4 Step Bailout Plan

2009-03-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

Bonus Money
Have you ever been to a restaurant, park, or any other form of public place and seen the child running the show? I'm talking about when the kid throws a fit, to get their way, and the parent caters to the need of the child who is acting up (thus reinforcing the bad behavior). I think we have a situation here where the proverbial child needs to be scolded. It's time to establish the rules.

If you haven't already heard, I am talking about the AIG insurance giant. AIG obviously doesn't know how to use taxpayer bailout money. So, what I am proposing is our government act like a responsible adult and reprimand it's bad child.

What I think should happen: (1) If we actually have valid need for this institution to not fail, then old Uncle Sam (who seems to sleeping quite a bit while the children of bailout play) needs to step in. (2) Government tax personnel or government accountants be hired and brought in to take a look at AIG's balance sheet. (3) All bailout issued money should be allocated or approved to places in the failing company where it is needed. NOT TO EXECUTIVE BONUSES AND "EMPLOYEE RETENTION BONUSES"! (4) Retain all unnecessary excess bailout payment to be used elsewhere.

The number one result on www.dictionary.com for 'bonus" is: something given or paid over and above what is due. OVER AND ABOVE WHAT IS DUE! So... these people are being paid what is due... PLUS SOME! When the rest of the company is failing?!?! Sure, why not? Just tax me for it on my pay check... no worries.

In the CBS interview below, I think Peter Morici says it best. He very briefly explains the entitlement mentality and rule bending. Watch the video below or search AIG Bailout Money for more info.

Bail'em All Out!