At one level this is a relatively simple tool, requiring the management to select a key area of business activity and to audit performance in that area, comparing to previous performance levels and, ideally, benchmarking against known best practice and performance levels. The information generated by these audits will then be used to identify unsatisfactory performance and enable measures to be introduced to bring about improvements.

The business areas that should be regularly audited, in any business, whether public, private, or not-for-profit, include: External Environment: well established tools and techniques are available and used to scan the external environment for information on issues, events, and trends that will impact on the strategies and performance capabilities of the organisation. The quality of this information, and the interpretations of it, is critical, as it is the foundation stone of the strategic planning activity that follows. An audit of processes, tools, and techniques, and the quality of output, is essential in ensuring that the strategic planning process is provided with high quality, relevant, valid information.

Competitors: although an element of the external environment analysis activity, this deserves a separate mention. Monitoring and-or benchmarking - variations of auditing - of competitor performance is essential. Competitors are, by default, in the same business, and gaining knowledge of competitor performance levels, in as many key areas as possible, will bring benefits to any organisation in any sector.

Strategic Planning: often an area of activity that is not evaluated, because it is carried out by the senior executive levels of management, but should be. In addition to the information gathering discussed above, the level of expertise in strategic planning of the managers, the rationale and justification for the chosen strategies, the processes used to communicate the strategies throughout the organisation, the level of support and resources provided for implementation, the performance of existing and previous strategies, are all areas that should be audited in order for optimum performance to be continuously achieved.

Leadership: separate from the Strategy audit, the quality of leadership should be audited regularly. A set of competencies for leadership, at all levels in the organisation, should be drawn up, and the leadership performance measured against these. Development activity should also be based on these competencies, and on eliminating or reducing weaknesses identified by the audit.

Culture: the existing culture that blend of beliefs, values, perceptions, behaviour, that makes up the culture of the organisation should be regularly audited and compared to the culture that is desired by, the objective of, the organisation’s leaders. Particularly at times when the organisation is planning or undergoing major change, information gathered from these audits will be invaluable.

Financial: where, although there is usually a framework of management and financial accounting processes, there is a need to rigorously and regularly audit the effectiveness of these, to ensure that the budgeting and accounting activity is as productive as possible.

Suppliers: one of the most critical areas of any organisation’s activity, the start of the supply chain, supplier performance, including the performance of those in the organisation who audit supplier performance, must be audited, rigorously and regularly. Now accepted, in parallel with research & design and strategic planning, as one of the foundation stones of quality assurance, any weakness in supplier performance can damage the organisation, sometimes irreparably. Auditing ensures that optimum performance levels are maintained.

Physical Resources: the quality of and use of physical resources, such as raw materials, operational equipment, technological equipment and systems, furniture, fittings, and buildings, all need regular auditing to ensure that the most appropriate resources are purchased, installed, maintained, and used effectively.

Human Resources: this entails auditing the quality of human resources employed by the organisation, the way in which they are deployed, how well they are trained and developed, as well as what opportunities and channels exist for progression. Every aspect of human resources activity should be audited at all levels, from operational up to and including executive level.

Equality: encompassing diversity, discrimination, and equality of opportunity which are all key areas that if not audited regularly to ensure high levels of performance not only abiding by legislative requirements but also contributing positively to the culture of the organisation will lead to conflict, dissatisfaction, lower morale, lower motivation, and ultimately lower levels of performance.

Internal Customers: often ignored, the level of satisfaction of internal customers the next department, individual, or team, that handles the next stage of production or service creation is critical. Overwhelming evidence shows that dissatisfaction of internal customers, leading to breakdowns in communication and cooperation,  is one of the major causes of poor overall performance.

Distribution: of the products and-or services provided by the organisation is an essential element in making the organisation successful. Auditing this process will ensure that logistics best practices are in place, and that distribution activity is contributing positively, in terms of financial costs and corporate identity, to marketing, sales, and customer service efforts.

External Customers: auditing the satisfaction levels of external customers is a critical activity that should be carried out on a frequent basis. Customers here include all those at separate points in the distribution chain, through to buyers and end users. Information drawn from these audits will ensure that the organisation is in tune with and can respond appropriately to the needs of its most important stakeholders its external customers.

Stakeholder Relationships: stakeholders are any individual, team, external organisation, that has a legitimate interest in the performance of the organisation. This could include, depending on the sector and specific organisation: employees, unions, parents, relatives, local or national media, local authorities, emergency services, shareholders, financial institutions, funding bodies, governors, national or international governments, strategic partners, and of course, a variety of external customers. Relationships with each of these, in their own way, are critical, and should be audited regularly to ensure that they are as healthy as possible.

Quality System: deliberately listed as the last area to be regularly audited, this is an audit that should be carried out in addition to all the individual audits listed above. Whether an organisation has an externally certificated quality assurance management system, or an internal only system, there should be quality criteria set for every critical activity, event, stage, and process, from the starting point to the final point of the supply chain from the earliest stages of design and supply activity to the point where the product or service is in the hands of the final, end-user customer. Quality criteria that describe required quality levels, performance levels, and outputs, are essential to the success of any organisation. The quality system, including the internal and external auditing processes, should be audited to make certain that it is performing as intended that is, assuring that the required quality standards are being met, and of course, continuously improving.

Effective auditing will bring a number of benefits to the organisation. The first group of benefits are those where obvious weaknesses or problems are identified, including: identifying where immediate improvements could be made; identifying emerging trends that may signify corrective, defensive, or offensive action is needed. The second group of benefits are more subtle, and include: identifying the actual situation, rather than what is perceived to be the case by management or specialists; increasing the pool of knowledge that individuals and teams can learn from; ensuring that the operational activity is, as intended, supporting the strategic objectives: establishing a culture that expects performance to be regularly audited and evaluated: establishes a culture that is driven by continuous improvement activity.

Unless an organisation continuously audits and evaluates its performance in all key areas, it cannot know for certain where poor performance is occurring, and it cannot take corrective action because it is not aware of the problem, or it does not have sufficient information on which to base appropriate action. Rigorous, regular auditing will provide a flow of valuable information that the organisation’s management can use to decide on operational changes that will improve performance in critical areas. Applied across the whole organisation, this will provide the strategic objectives with a stronger foundation of support, and  ultimately more chance of success.

The business of wholesale distributing is one of the oldest and most profitable businesses in history.  One of the reasons is because you don’t need to be there all the time to make money; you have lots of other businesses selling the items for you.  These businesses are your customers. People that buy from you to resell the products and make money themselves.  They can be wholesalers themselves or they can be retailers.  Either way, it’s a way to multiply your sales.

Did you ever wanted to start a business?  Chances are that any business will have something to do to with the “wholesale business”.  Most businesses have to buy goods at wholesale or have to buy supplies at wholesale prices.  If you have a restaurant you don’t go to the market to buy food at retail prices, you have a wholesale distributor called “foodservice distributor” deliver your products.  If you have any time of retail store or business you need wholesale suppliers.  Even if you provide a service like a doctor or a hair stylist chances are you are buying supplies at wholesale prices.  Wholesalers are everywhere and they are involved with almost every business in the world.

------The best thing about this business is that you can make sales when you are not there.  Once you get a few stores as customers you will see how they will sell your products over and over again while you are at home, on vacation, with friends and family.  You deliver them, they sell them!------

Multiplying your sales is probably one of the most important factors in wholesale distribution.  It’s what makes this business interesting.  It’s not just you working and making money on an hourly basis, you have many people working many hours to make money and in turn make you money.  When you are a good distributor with a good product and good service, people will come to you.  They will find you and they will keep buying from you.  Why?  Because that’s their business, that’s how they make their money.  You would do the same thing.  If you have a supplier with fast selling products you’ll keep buying from the supplier because you keep moving the merchandise.  This is why even very small one man operations can make money in this business.  Even if they sell what everyone else is selling. Even if they are more expensive.  Why, because they are there.  They have good service and if you are a retailer you know that you need products to sell products.  If your shelves are empty because your supplier is not there, you are loosing money.  It does not matter if your supplier has the best price, if he does not have good service you won’t have a long relationship with them.

In the next few chapters you will learn the different types of distribution business out there, the types of products and services you can sell, and how much you can make with each one.

When you are reading the types of wholesale businesses try and see yourself doing each of these tasks or running each of those businesses.  If you like a particular business, highlight it and do some research on it.  There are many things you can do in wholesale and distribution depending on your personality, your cash situation and your goals.

Businesses of all sizes are very concerned about identity theft and business espionage. Security is at the top of the list and shredding is now the law. When quality and precision shredders are a priority Dahle shredders come to mind.

When considering the top quality shredders Dahle is a world class quality shredder. Dahle makes shredders for the desktop, home offices, and larger offices as well. Dahle also makes, industrial, work group, and high security shredders which have the approval of the Dept of Defense. Since Dahle makes a full range of shredders they probably make a shredder that would fit your needs. Let's take a closer look at Dahle shredders and see why they are so popular.

Dahle has a worldwide reputation for it's innovations in developing shredders with cutting cylinders with hardened steel.

They use the highest quality materials in their products, and a rigorous testing program insures the only the best products leave their factory in Germany.

The series of small office shredders are tough and efficient. The design shred capacity is up to 400 sheets a day. This series of shredders are designed with a wooden cabinet and a swing open door. Behind the door is a box removeable box that is lined with a disposable bag. A visual alert indicator tells you when to change the bag.

The series of office shredders are designed to service a busy office with multiple users. The design shred capacity is up to 2,000 sheets a day. As an example this series of shredders are perfect for medical offices responsible for destroying confidential health records. Features such as automatic shutoff, auto reverse, bag full, and automatic on and off make these machines convenient and easy to use.

Moving up to the next class of shredders Dahl offers high capacity shredders that are designed to service a large volume of sensitve confidential documents. The design shred capacity is up to 28,000 sheets a day. These shredders have a 16" throat and can shred up to 60 sheets at a time. Since the power and capcity increases from the smallest to larger models you have your option to choose the perfect model to fit your needs. As an example these units would work well in a large office mail room where quantity and speed shredding would be a requirment.

Since protection from identity theft and business espionage is a high priority for businesses and governments more rigid requirements are in place for security shredding. Dahle has the high securtiy class of shredders that meet that need. These shredders meet the requirements set by the Department of Defense for top secret documents.

The departmental shredders that Dahle makes are designed for high capacity, where multiple offices are sharing the shredding tasks. These machines are designed for shredding up to 60,000 sheets a day.

Dahle paper shredders are world class in quality and security. Their series of shredders from home to industial use are engineered to get the job done thoroughly.

There are many reasons you might need to know the age of people who are frequenting your business. Maybe you run a nightclub and only want people over the age of 21 to be admitted. Or you could own a shop that sells cigarettes, or a restaurant that serves alcohol.

Whatever the reason you need to verify a person's age, you know that it is important to do so. As a conscientious business owner you don't want to sell to minors, and the fines and penalties can be heavy if you are caught.

But checking the identification of every patron and doing the math to make sure they are the right age can be time consuming. That's where electronic age verification software comes in.

Age verification software is built into a device that looks like a credit card scanner. The device reads the barcode or magnetic strip that is built into the patron's driver's license or state identification card.

When you swipe their identification card, you will be told immediately if this person is the proper age to buy tobacco or alcohol or for whatever other reason you might need to know their age.

This eliminates the need for someone to physically examine the identification card and makes it quick and easy for you to grant access to people who are of age.

Electronic age verification equipment can often be obtained from the same company that provides your credit card transaction equipment. It is no more difficult to use one of these devices than it is to swipe a credit card, so you can start using age verification in your business with minimal staff training.

A study from Brandeis University looked at the effectiveness of using electronic age verification hardware and found that customers were not uncomfortable with swiping their IDs. Staff who used the equipment said they were generally happy with it as well.

Getting into the habit of using the machines seemed to be the biggest problem, but once you get used to having the machine available you will be more likely to use it since it is a simple method of verifying age.

Adding electronic age verification is an easy way to ensure that you're not running afoul of the law by selling items to minors that they should not have access to. Getting one of these machines and using it faithfully should help you rest easy that you're not going to get in trouble for selling to minors. It's also a great way to get positive publicity in your community because you can prove you're checking people's identifications in the most high-tech way possible.

Anyone planning about going into business for himself, or wishing to enlarge an existing business should head for the world's largest "one-stop-money-hub" where FREE MONEY is being held for you to begin or expand a business by the Federal Government.

It is absolutely amazing that people living right in the United States of America wouldn't know that every year the world's biggest source of free business aids in delivering.

While there are still no direct small business grants that can be borrowed from the federal government, many state development agencies offer direct small business grants and other types of financial assistance designed to encourage and help businessmen in starting or expanding a small business

Attempting to get funds through a orthodox financial institution can be very lengthy and requires loads of paperwork, only to find out that you've been refused. These Government Agencies don't have to work under the same abovesaid requirements that banks do. You work on how much funds you require, as long as it's a legible amount and complies with Government Agencies basis, the fund is yours to keep and you don't have to repay it.

There are some Government grants that are available for EXPANSION OF  businesses (but not to establish a new business). When a government agency makes funds available for a grant, it places an announcement in the Federal Register which is issued every weekday. For the major part, these grants are very specialized. Moreover, many Government grants are not available through the year. That is, you can't apply for most of them at any time you wish -- in practical, you can apply for them only when they are announced by a Government agency.

GRANT is not exactly a loan, This money is interest free and non taxable . None of these plans need a collateral ,co-signers , credit check, security deposits , you can apply even if you have a bad credit or bankruptcy , it doesn't matter, you as a U.S. citizen and tax payer are entitled to these funds.

Majority of people never want to try for FREE government GRANTS since they feel it is not meant for them, or simply don't know who to contact or feel there's too much red-tapism but the fact is that this money is meant for you.

Over $29 trillion dollars in low-interest loans and free grants;

over one-third billion dollars in obtaining of contracts; and

Around $32 billion dollars in research grants FREE consulting.

With a market that remains unpredictable, and a requirement for even greater economic growth on all aspects, the federal government is more interested than it ever has been earlier to give you the money you need to establish your own business and become your own boss!

The fact is, however, that people from all aspects of life do receive GRANTS MONEY free and other help from the government, and you are entitled to it.

In today's environment, businesses increasingly rely on video surveillance systems. But how do you choose the best CCTV system, camera, or DVR? Read on to learn the steps to take in choosing the right video surveillance system for your needs.

CCTV Objectives

The first step in designing a CCTV system is to determine the following:

* How many cameras are required?

* What are the key fields of view?

* What are your recording requirements?

* What are the lighting conditions at each camera location?

* Where do you need live video monitoring?

* How long do you need to keep the video files?

Security Camera

The types of security camera you choose depend upon whether they'll be used indoors or outdoors, during the day and/or night, and where they will be mounted.

Indoor Dome Camera: In nine out of ten instances, and indoor dome camera is used for general indoor applications. It's typically mounted on the ceiling, and can be configured for standard color, day/night, or infrared.

Box Camera: Box cameras are usually sold independent of lenses, which are mounted to provide flexibility for different fields of vision. Box cameras can be mounted alone or in an enclosure.

Outdoor Dome Camera: Common for locations that have entry and exit points with limited night lighting, outdoor dome cameras typically have hard shell vandal-proof casings and a variety of lens options.

Day/Night Camera: For low light conditions, the day/night camera is the best choice. During the day, the camera records in standard color, then switches to a low-lux black and white mode at night.

Infrared Camera: When there is no available light, an infrared camera is the way to go. Infrared LEDs are automatically illuminated and the camera records in black and white mode, offering camera views in complete darkness.

PTZ Camera: A pan-tilt-zoom camera gives the operator the ability to view and zoom in all directions. The CCTV operator can set the camera to automatically rotate to different fields of vision. Plus, a PTZ camera can include optional applications that dynamically track objects in defined areas.

Digital Video Recorder

DVRs are integral to the success of any CCTV project. With higher video resolution, data compression, and faster recording speeds, DVRs are better than every. Professional DVRs allow for network or remote monitoring of CCTV video. With video distribution across LANs, WANs, and the Internet, the DVR is also used for business systems monitoring.

Choosing the correct DVR means answering the following questions:

* How many cameras do you have?

* What recording speed do you require?

* How long do you need to keep the recordings?

* Where will the DVR system be located?

* Do you have remote monitoring requirements?

The most important aspect of a CCTV system layout is the location of the DVR. It is the lifeline of the CCTV system, so must be kept in a secure location, preferably in a lockbox.

Leading Brands

Nuvico and GeoVision are leading brands for cameras and DVRs. With a Nuvico camera, you have many choices, and both Nuvico and GeoVision offer superior DVRs. Complete CCTV systems are also available with four cameras, eight cameras, or 16 cameras, depending on your needs. These systems often feature a Pentium-based Dell computer, a GeoVision DVR, and Samsung CCTV cameras.

Whichever CCTV system you choose, remember to ask yourself important questions about location, lighting conditions, and the length of time you need to keep the video files. Once you have those answers, it will be much easier to find the right CCTV system to fit your needs.