How Successful are you? It all depends on the way you look at your life, and what you consider to be truly successful. It also depends on what you use to measure these different valued achievements. Certainly we all have our own priorities, lifestyles, and goals, but there are ways to measure success in your life that are healthier than others.

For example, would you consider a person who is extremely wealthy, with a mortgage paid off, three luxury cars, a pool, a tennis court, and a high-status job to be successful? What if that same person had a terrible disease or suffered from chronic pain? What if the anxiety from the job that gave the person so much money felt like slow torture? What if that person spent so much time earning money and making luxury purchases that s/he never had enough time to enjoy those items, or even meet a potential spouse?

Conversely, would you consider a person successful if he or she was living under the poverty line, and never knows where tonight’s dinner will come from, let alone how rent will be made at the end of the month? What if that person was married to the love of their lives, was working their dream job, had lots of friends, was as healthy as anyone could be, and didn’t mind a bit of financial risk?

It’s funny how the results change when you look at the different details, or from a different light.

The primary misconception that many people have is that money or monetary gain is synonymous with success. But when we look at things from another angle, it’s easier to see the successes in one’s life for what they truly are. Instead of thinking about dollar amounts, try looking at the following three powerful measures for your success:

Living your life’s purpose

Planting seeds of hope, inspiration, and encouragement in others

Making the most of every day to achieve your true potential

When you consider a successful life on these terms, it’s much easier to find the motivation that you need in your life both at home, and in your business. Then again, changing your entire life view of success isn’t something that is entirely easy – unless you know exactly how to do it.

A High-risk merchant account is a merchant account service provided to internet merchants that have been declared "high-risk" by Visa and MasterCard. This is owing to the nature of their businesses, that have a high credit rate or a high turnover but also, an increased risk of fraud and chargebacks.

Characteristically, it's very hard for high risk and non-US businesses to obtain a merchant account. High risk merchant accounts offered by different service providers allow International Merchants to privately process their credit card transactions and have the proceeds sent to an offshore bank account. The fees are higher for offshore/high risk credit card processing.

Credit card processors are likely to reject you if your business is considered high-risk. The aim is to locate a credit card processor that gets you approved and has you up and accepting credit cards quickly and efficiently, with either a high risk merchant account or an international merchant account.

Examples of high risk merchant accounts include pharmaceuticals, telemarketing, infomercials, travel industries, online dating, replica, gaming etc. Some of these are considered more high risk than others.

High risk merchant accounts are available with international banks. A merchant has to do the following to obtain a direct account if their merchant account is considered high risk:

1. Incorporated in the bank’s jurisdictions (this requirement is based on credit card operating regulations)

2. Have 6 months of existing processing history (preferable the last 6 months)

3. Chargebacks in the last 6 months must be less than 1 %.

4. Pay the required set up fees

5. Provide principal’s passport, business incorporation documents - some jurisdictions require a local nominee director’s passport and a utility bill of the nominee director. This is done to avoid cross border issues.

6. The merchant website has to be in compliance to Visa and MasterCard requirements

These merchant accounts can also be classified as offshore high risk merchant accounts, international merchant accounts, and high volume merchant accounts.

The other option if you do not have processing history and you do not want pay the expensive of incorporation in the bank’s jurisdiction, you can always get a third party merchant account. A third party merchant account’s underwriting is less stringent and is set up much faster than a direct account.

It is possible to achieve Page 1 listings on search engines

without ever submitting your website.  If you follow the five

best practices for dominating the search engines that are

described in the two parts of this article, then you will

have a good chance of a high listing, although you will have

to adapt the information to suit your own particular website.

The first part, this one, explains the importance of website

design and the use of keywords. The second part will discuss

contextual relevance to the topic, commonly called LSI, the

importance of links to your website and the fact that you

cannot allow your website to remain static.  You must keep

updating it.

Before you can apply search engine optimization to your site,

you must understand how search engines view it. Let's discuss

Google, as being representative of a true search engine

rather than a website directory.  It is the most used search

engine, and also the one that appears to set the standards

for search and listing criteria.

Google does not list websites, OK?  Get that understood right

now.  Google lists web pages. Theoretically, ten of your web

pages could monopolize the first page for any particular

search term. This is important because it means that you

should make every single page of your website as attractive

to search engines as possible.  However let's consider your

home page as being representative of your website and the

page that Google finds first.

WEBSITE DESIGN IS CRUCIAL

So what are these magical five best practices? The first is

the design of your website. When the search engines check out

your site, they use algorithms, or mathematical formulae,

that apply statistical rules to what they find.  These are

commonly called 'crawlers' or 'spiders'.  I will use the term

'spiders'.  When you design your site, you must make it easy

for spiders to crawl around it.

Spiders are slaves, and follow instructions to the letter.

If you tell it to go to point A, it will go to point A. It

won't wonder if that's the best thing to do - it will go

right there. If it lands at point A and you tell it to go to

point B, it will do that as well.  Now, think what that

means.  If point A is another page on your website, and point

B is a page on somebody else's website, where does the spider

end up?  That's right, you've got it!

When a spider lands on your web page, it does so at the top

left of the first column in the first table.  It then crawls

along from left to right until it reaches the end of the

column, then goes to the next column and so on.  It then goes

to any nested tables, again from left to right and so on.

Using that information, you can draw a spider's web using

your HTML:  spiders are monolingual - they only read HTML,

not Java or Flash or any other script.

Using the information above you should be able to work out a

path on your website that will lead spiders to where you want

them to go. The easier a spider can scuttle round your site

the more pleased it will be with it.  However, as hinted

above, don't lead it off your site: it might just stay there!

There are ways to lock certain doors to spiders but that is

for Part 2.

KEYWORDS ARE SPIDER FOOD - DON'T GET THEM FAT!

Do you remember when you were told to use a keyword density

of 1% - 3% on each page?  Well forget it!  That's nonsense.

First of all let's look at what a keyword is.  Have you ever

used Google, or any other search engine, to find some

information?  Of course you have !  Did you do what I do, and

think of the best wording you can use in the box to describe

what you want and wonder if these were the best words to use?

You probably did, and like me either got what you wanted or

had to type in something else. Do you know what?  Each of the

search terms you used was a 'keyword'.  That's right, a

keyword can be a phrase as well as a single word.  A keyword,

in fact, is any term that a Google user enters into the

search box hoping to get the information they need.

Therefore, when you are adding keywords to your web pages,

you are adding words or phrases that you hope others are

using to find the information you have on that web page.

Remember that Google lists every web page separately.

What this means is that to maximize the traffic to your web

pages you have to figure out what keywords Google users will

use to find your website.  There are tools to help you do

that, such as the free Google Keyword Tool and Digital Point

Keyword Tool, and the paid for Wordtracker.  Check them out

and decide what suits you best.  Keyword research is a big

subject, far too big for this article, but that is a rough

idea of what is involved.

Use your keyword in your title and heading, once in the first

100 characters in the main body text, and once in the last

paragraph.  No more, though you can add it once every 500

words.  And that's it. More information on the use of words

that relate to your keywords will be given in Part 2.

For most businesses, a merchant account is essential to economic growth. Providing business owners with a way to accept credit and/or debit cards, gift cards and other forms of electronic payments, merchant accounts are commonly referred to simply as credit card or payment processing. As a general rule, any merchant who accepts payment in exchange for goods or services must apply for a merchant account if they wish to accept electronic payments. Surprisingly, however, not everyone is approved for merchant accounts. One example of a potential problem could be a business owner who has little or no credit or even a poor credit history may find it difficult to obtain a merchant account.

For many online entrepreneurs, PayPal has revolutionized the way people do business. An online payment system that allows you to instantly send or receive payments using a credit card or checking account, PayPal does not require that its users have a merchant account nor do they perform a credit check prior to issuing an account. In a nutshell, anyone with any type of credit history can sign up for a PayPal account and begin accepting electronic payments within minutes.

For those who do not use the internet, but rather need merchant accounts for in-store payment processing, you will find that there are fees that accompany each credit card payment. The actual cost will vary among providers, but the fees are always present. Among the common fees charged include transaction, authorization, statement, monthly minimum and chargeback fees. A chargeback fee is automatically charged to the business owner if they process a credit card payment that is ultimately denied for any reason. In this scenario, the business owner would then be responsible for having their customer pay the chargeback fee in order to compensate the business for its cost.

In order to apply for merchant accounts, business owners must be able to provide a valid business license, description of the company, business location and other verifiable information used to perform a credit check on the owner. Upon approval, the bank will issue a credit card terminal and/or other equipment that will be used to process payments. Depending on the terms of the agreement, the equipment may or may not remain the property of the issuing bank.

When deciding where to apply for merchant accounts, business owners should consider starting at the bank where they already have a personal account. This will enable them to do business with a bank that they are already familiar with and they may find that their past responsibility in handling their own account may carry substantial weight when applying for merchant accounts from the same institution.

Surplus inventory is one of the seven "muda" or wasteful processes identified in the lean manufacturing methodology. Eliminating them can be applied to any manufacturing or production process to achieve performance improvement.

Raw materials, work in progress and finished product ties up valuable capital into the production chain when it could be released for better use within the business. Handling and storage utilizes valuable space, takes up time and resources and adds even more costs. Shortening production lead times and reducing handling and storage tasks releases capital and cash.

Leading manufacturers have found that modular and adaptable carts, trolleys and lineside storage facilities can help to introduce flexible processes and deliver materials and components to the lineside when they are needed to align production more closely with demand.

Modular systems enable rapid implementation and reconfiguration. New or temporary applications can be built quickly and adapted easily to meet changing process requirements. This means that the overall cost of implementation and ownership is reduced because all components can be re-used for new applications.

Carts and trolleys can be designed to carry precise numbers of specific items to the lineside. Parts supermarkets can be created at the lineside and replenished frequently when stocks fall below predetermined levels. The overall result is that the amount of inventory in the supply chain can be reduced. Manufacturers can also introduce greater agility into their processes to respond more quickly to changing customer demands.

Reduce wasteful production movements

Another of the seven "muda" is unnecessary handling and storage movements. Unnecessary movement in the working area adds to the time taken to complete a task which reduces productivity and adds to costs. It occurs when items such as tools, equipment and components are positioned so that staff have to walk, reach or stretch to collect or handle them.

To avoid these wasteful movements, modular workstations and storage areas can be configured ergonomically so that items are in the correct position and close to hand whenever they are needed. The savings in movements achieved by staff reduce the overall time taken to complete a task or process and this contributes to increased productivity and performance.

Ergonomic production and storage areas also present staff with fewer distractions which means they are less likely to make mistakes and this helps improve overall quality.

Adaptable workstations and parts supermarkets can be designed to take up the correct space - no more, no less - to accommodate the specific manufacturing process. In addition to improving ergonomics this helps increase overall production density because more workstations or manufacturing cells can be fitted into the same space which reduces the cost of each.

To incorporate or not to incorporate?

It seems that more companies feel the need to incorporate than ever before. In today's society,  just everybody can sue and everybody can be sued and that makes a corporation all the more attractive. However, there are unfortunately more obstacles surrounding incorporation than ever before. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of incorporation? Is it right for your company?

First off, incorporation might be the best decision for one company and the worst decision for another! There is not just one right answer out there. The key is to determine what liability concerns you have in particular and what tax benefits you desire and then find out if incorporation will help your company fulfill its goals better.

Probably the biggest benefit of incorporation goes to the company's owner. Once a company becomes a corporation, it essentially becomes a separate entity and its owner will only have limited liability as a result. Don't think that this gets individual shareholders out of the clear, though! Shareholders can be held liable in many circumstances; they can't always hide behind the corporation.

There are many other benefits, though. Investors are drawn to corporations, and for some companies, investors are invaluable. Not only will investors buy stock in your company, but your employees can have stock options as well. Your employees also might be happier working for a corporation because corporations are forced to be well-organized and consequently, are very efficient.

Still, there are a handful of glaring disadvantages of incorporation that you should also consider. While hopefully a corporation will run like a well-oiled machine, it takes a long time to build that machine. And time is money. Incorporation is a process that all must be entirely committed to. A company doesn't turn into a corporation over night!

Even after the process of incorporation is over, it can be a real headache to those in charge, as they must welcome a lot of bureaucracy into their company. Many decisions and practices are standardized for corporations across the country and this means your employees might have to go to a regular meeting every week that they didn't have to go to before. It's no secret, but small companies are a lot more personal and easygoing than corporations.

There's also the whole tax issue. While incorporation can sometimes lead to some great tax benefits (which you'll want to research on your own), it can also lead your company into some financial difficulties. Whether or not taxes get better or worse for your company depends on your specific situation, but don't assume tax benefits will be waiting for you just around the corner if you incorporate.

Will incorporation make your company bigger, better, and more secure? Probably. But what is the price you will pay for a sturdier company? If you don't have many concerns about liability and your autonomous company is performing quite well, then there might be more cons than pros to incorporation. So, when deciding whether or not to incorporate, just remember to take into consideration every aspect of your company.

Stop your expectations from sabotaging cold calls.

Sales pressure is a mighty saboteur. And it comes in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Beginning any conversation with the anticipation of a sale puts the whole conversation under pressure. This doesn’t normally create good outcomes. It usually triggers pressure, resistance, and tension.

People have received so many calls with such a strong focus on sales that they respond in a defensive manner to any sales calls at all. If you can release your expectations while making a cold call, you’ll diffuse the underlying tension that comes with sales pressure. And you’ll be surprised how often others will welcome talking with you.

Most of us truly believe that our product or service can help others, so we assume that anyone who fits the profile of a potential client should buy what we have to offer. Isn’t that one of the first things we learn in our sales training?

But this is a recipe for disaster when it comes to cold calling. When we make a call assuming someone will be interested, we’ve automatically moved into expectations. No matter how well camouflaged they are, sales expectations block the flow of natural conversation and put pressure on the other person.

So move away from making any assumptions when making cold calls. After all, how much sense is it to have assumptions about someone you’ve never spoken with? How much can you possibly know about their problems, issues, needs, budget, or other key information?

If you approach your calls from a place of genuine interest rather than expectations, you’ll diffuse any sense of sales pressure. The other individual will relax and the interaction will flow naturally.

However, if you’re already convinced in your own mind that they should be a fit, certain pressure has already started before the conversation has really even begun. The last thing you want is to introduce this into the conversation. So rather than moving into a sales presentation immediately, maintain the natural flow of interaction instead.

You can diffuse underlying sales pressure within any conversation by focusing first on whether you are a good fit. Invite the other person to focus on this with you. And determine together whether a good business relationship might genuinely be possible.

When our honest objective is not to make a sale but rather discover the truth of the situation, we have released expectations. The key is to offer options, so the person we’re talking with doesn’t feel pressure from us. This would only trigger the defensive reactions we’re trying to avoid.

Overcome the temptation to immediately discuss what you have to offer. Instead, help the other person overcome the fear of who you are and what is expected. Potential clients are much more likely to respond to you when they are not subjected to an immediate mini-presentation. This approach usually just creates suspicion and rejection.

So allow the conversation to have a natural sense of rhythm. Define mutual interest before launching into a description of your solution to a problem you probably know very little about at this point.

If you’re still caught up in the traditional mindset of making the sale, your voice and demeanor will be full of expectation. Although you may even be using the "asking questions strategy," you are really thinking about moving the conversation into the sales process. Others will subtly (or overtly) react to this expectation with resistance.

It’s perfectly fine to describe your product or service. However, you must introduce this at an appropriate time.

So be relaxed and low-key. Otherwise you risk introducing sales pressure immediately.

Rather than a presentation, you might begin with the question, "Hi, maybe you can help me out a second?"

The person will almost always respond by saying "Sure.  How can I help you?" You’ve now diffused any immediate sales pressure. You’re being genuine and not using the canned phrases that every other salesperson is using. You’ve gotten rid of the usual initial pressure and tension that comes along with sales expectations.

When your expectations are released, others won’t feel you’re trying to lead them down the path to a sale.  They are usually willing to examine along with you whether a business relationship might be good.

So there you have it. Release your expectations to avoid conveying a sense of sales pressure. Potential clients become more interested and involved as a result, and also much more truthful about where they stand.

It'll get you closer to the dream of a paperless office

Guidance for Workplace PC Users

One of the big dreams of PC aficionados 20-plus years ago was the paperless office. Why would you need paper if you had everything saved on a disk? So much for that dream. We're a long way from saving the forests.

But here's my goal for you today: I want to convince you that, to a large degree, your office filing cabinets are wasting space. Paper is a pain in the neck. Theoretically, you could get rid of every scrap of it. You can store a record of everything you do in your computer. And finding it is easier than digging through a filing cabinet.

Let's get started.

Step 1: Understand Windows Explorer )

There are two parts of the Microsoft Windows operating system that you really should understand. One is the desktop. That's what you see when you turn on the computer. You probably have a grip on that already.

The other is Windows Explorer. That's where all your files are listed.

You use the Start button to find Windows Explorer. For Windows Me and XP, click Start>Programs or All Programs>Accessories>Windows Explorer. If you're still using Windows 98, click Start>Programs>Windows Explorer.

When you open Windows Explorer, you'll find the screen is split into left and right panes. The stuff on the left is folders; the things on the right are subfolders or files. If you click once on a folder, the subfolders and files within that folder are displayed on the right.

The folder section on the left is called a "tree." It could be better described as an "upside-down tree." Near the top, you'll find the root folder, usually C:. Everything grows from that. The most important thing under C: is My Documents. That's where you store your documents. The other thing you should be aware of is Program Files.

When you install an application — Microsoft Word or whatever — it will normally go under Program Files. Some programs install directly under C:, but they are the exceptions. So, if you ever need to dig into the folders in Microsoft Word or another program, you'll probably find them under Program Files.

Step 2: Reclaim the My Documents folder )

Microsoft includes more than one My Documents folder in Windows Explorer. Why? Beats me. But you could use any My Documents folder you find on your drive. To avoid confusion, just use one. I'll focus on the one under C:.

You can set up My Documents the way you do a filing cabinet. Think about that cabinet: Your top drawer might be "Important Letters." Inside, you might have letters to your customers, arranged by folders. Each customer would have a folder. Your second drawer could be marked "Invoices to Customers." Again, the folders inside would be individualized for your customers.

So here's how you set up My Documents the same way:

Click once on My Documents, highlighting it. Click File>New>Folder. Give the new folder the name "Important Letters." Be sure the Important Letters folder shows on the left side, under My Documents.

Now, click once on the Important Letters folder. Click File>New>Folder. Give the new folder the name of a customer. Do this for each of your customers.

Follow the same procedure for invoices. Create a new folder under My Documents and name it "Invoices to Customers." Then create subfolders for Invoices to Customers, and give each the name of a customer.

You can create as many folders under My Documents as you like. And you can create lots of subfolders. In fact, you can add subfolders to subfolders to subfolders, if you like. This method of filing is flexible.

Paper documents you receive, as opposed to those you generate, are more problematic. If you have a scanner, you can scan them into your system. Otherwise, you might want to continue to file them. The same is true of newspaper clippings and other pieces of paper. They can be scanned if you want to digitize everything. But you might find traditional filing handier.

Step 3: What hardware do I need? )

You probably have enough space on your hard drive to store the Library of Congress. Hard drives have grown exponentially in recent years. Unless you're storing huge video files, you probably don't have a space-limitation issue.

It's easy to check your space situation. Click Start and My Computer. Right-click C: and click Properties. Your hard drive information is on the General tab.

Checking mine, I find that I have 4.76 gigabytes of data. Much of that is Windows and other applications. I also have thousands of personal files, because I store everything I write. Even so, I have 33.5 GB of empty space. This hard drive will turn to dust before I fill it!

Meanwhile, assuming you commit your business life to your hard drive, you must protect it. Do that with data backups. Then, if a hard drive fails, you can restore the data to a new hard drive.

Hard drives are very reliable today. But you should never take chances with your business. The world is already tough enough!

If you don't feel comfortable diving in, start slowly. Put just a few of your files under My Documents. I think you'll find Windows Explorer easy to use.

You may never drive paper out of your life. But you can certainly reduce it, and maybe save a tree or two.

Some of us are lucky (or unlucky) enough to start our own business, we work all the hours under the sun and moon and think that this is it, this is going to make me, I will be happy and have no worries about bills and the future. Sadly,it's not quite like that. If you're into manual labour you generally end up with no money and all sorts of

ailments like back pain, trapped nerves (very painful!) or even the odd limb missing. All from slogging your guts out 24/7! And if you do find that job you always wanted?

Are you still there? I'll bet your not or you won't be in the near future. Why? Because you aren't getting the appreciation you feel you deserve, you know you do a good job, and you know you could do it better but something's stopping you, stopping you from progressing and stopping you.

Why is this? Have we been brought up to be like this? For the average person we weren't taught how to look after our bodies or our minds at school, we were doing homework on Arithmetic's, English, French, Geology and Physics to name a few, all good if you knew what you were going to do in life! Society didn't teach us how to make money or be happy or to look after ourselves, it just taught the basics so that we could fit in.

But fitting in doesn't work!.....we all have that built in desire to be successful, to be better than we are, it's only with us for a certain period of time and you know when

it's running out, it's inbuilt, we are human and it's natural. You have to take a look at yourself and almost go back to school, your school! Do it the way you want to be taught not how society taught you.

Your school, what is your school?..........It's anything you want it to be!

You just need knowledge, only WITH THIS TIME its knowledge you want to learn and you can get enthralled in. You can work any amount of hours in the day as little or as much as you want, but the big difference is that you will be enthralled with your new venture, you will want to work all the hours life allows (and your family) and the

appreciation will come from yourself.

Your life that has passed by (which goes too quick in my book) has gained you a wealth of knowledge that YOU know, that you can pass on to others that need that information.

Information that is valuable and easy for you to convey to others, it's called a niche.

So you see, to all those out there with yearn and the willpower (and we all have it, it's natural) you have an opportunity that no society has had before us. The world is a small village, and the reason for that s.......................... the INTERNET.