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Irish Whisky

The fact that there are only three distilleries in Ireland would suggest that this has always been a small-scale industry. Take time to visit the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin or the Jameson Heritage Centre in Midleton, County Cork and another truth is immediately apparent. These are distilleries built on a grand scale. Both sites are long silent, but give a glimpse of a time when Irish whiskey rather than Scotch was the world's favourite style.

No wonder distillers like Jameson and Power rejected the column still; the world wanted their pot-still whiskey. By the end of the 19th century, Jameson's Bow St. plant was employing 300 people and 2 million gallons were sleeping beneath the Dublin streets. But history stepped in and five years after the formation of Irish Distillers, the Bow St. site closed. Production was switched to Power's equally grand John's Lane distillery for three years, before the new plant at Midleton started up in 1975.

Much the same happened in Cork Distilleries' massive 'Old' Midleton distillery now (slightly confusingly) called The Jameson Heritage Centre. It's undoubtedly impressive, but like all silent distilleries, slightly sad and ghostly. Wandering round this vast plant you can imagine the scrape of the shovels in the malting barns, the creak of the pulleys, the hiss and rattle of the stills, the clatter of hooves in the cobbled courtyard, the cries and laughter of the men, the calming splash of the water wheel which powered the plant.

Then in 1975 the wheel stopped, the largest pot still in the world (at 31,648 gallons big enough to hold a party in) produced its last spirit. But the ending of the old world ushered in a new one of high-tech whiskey making. 'New' Midleton, carefully hidden from the tourists' gaze, may look unimpressively industrial from the outside, but is the most remarkable distillery in the world.

So why haven't we heard about it? Maybe the industry had been so badly beaten up that it lost confidence in selling to the world. Until recently that is. Jameson is currently the fastest-growing whiskey brand in the world, new lines are appearing at a rate of knots. But we skip ahead.

How can you make 30-plus different whiskies (and gin and vodka) in one site? The few visitors who are allowed into the Midleton still room spend an age shaking their heads in wonder at the four massive pot stills sitting opposite the seven columns that shoot up to the roof. 'Effectively, what we have here is two distilleries rolled into one - a pot still/malt whiskey distillery and a column still light/grain whiskey distillery,' says master distiller Barry Crockett, looking down into the cavernous stillhouse.

'What's unique is the way the distillate streams can be diverted from the pot still side to the column still side, and vice versa. Actually, I can use any combination that takes my fancy!' In other words, he can make a triple distilled pot still spirit, or pot-column-pot, or column-pot-pot, or ... well, you get the idea. Just through distillation, different flavour profiles are created. There's more. 'The cut points for each component whiskey will vary,' he says.

'Say we're making one for Jameson 15-year-old. It will have a different cut point to the standard Jameson. Power's and Paddy will also have their own different cut points, distillation techniques - and mashbills.' Most of the pot still whiskeys use a percentage of unmalted barley - giving them a distinctive crunchy, spicy quality. 'It's hard to describe.

How to Get Clients and Fill Your Private Practice Using an Audio CD

In my 20 years of private practice I have found an audio CD to be the single most effective marketing tool for generating prospects and getting clients.

Why? You conduct a very personal, intimate service that requires prospects to know, like, and trust you before they consider becoming clients. In addition, they typically experience some feelings of fear and vulnerability at the idea of engaging your service, which results in resistance and inertia holding them back.

Though YOU know your service is effective, your skills are competent, and you are a safe, caring human being, your prospects don't know that yet. A CD will help your prospects get an experience of you that can motivate them to hire you.

THE COMPLIMENTARY SESSION

Many private practice professionals rely upon the "free initial consultation" or "complimentary session" to get clients. In my experience, from the prospect's point of view, they must ALREADY know, like, and trust you to book this appointment. Being free doesn't erase the fear and trepidation that holds many potential clients back from getting the support they need. An audio CD can be very useful to motivate prospects to contact you for that important initial consultation.

MARKETING VS. ENROLLMENT

One of the biggest revelations I've had about private practice is this-

You can market til the cows come home and not get any clients!

I learned that there is a HUGE difference between marketing and enrollment.

MARKETING is communicating what you do. The primary purpose/outcome is to generate prospects.

ENROLLMENT is the process of building your relationship with your prospects so they hire you or refer to you.

An audio CD helps motivate the people you reach through your marketing to become prospects (to get your valuable CD), and helps prospects make the wise decision to hire you.

SIXTEEEN SPECIFIC WAYS TO USE AN AUDIO CD TO FILL YOUR PRACTICE

A. ATTRACT  PROSPECTS

1. Website - opt-in offer

2. Presentations - hand out in exchange for contact info

3. Referral Sources - give them some to build referral relationship, educate about your services, and to pass along (and they will)

4. Stimulating Referrals - give to clients and prospects to pass along to friends and family

5. Viral Marketing - high perceived value that gets passed around

B. CONVERT PROSPECTS TO CLIENTS

6. Give to prospects as follow up to initial contact

7. Ask prospects if they know anyone who wants one

8. Invoke Law of Reciprocity (more inclined to hire you if you provide value first)

C. BOOST YOUR PUBLIC RELATIONS EFFORTS

9. Print Media - send to editors and reporters who cover your area of expertise

10. Radio - send to radio hosts and show producers likely to be interested in featuring you as a guest on their show

11. Television - send to news and talk show producers likely to be interested in featuring you as a guest on their show

D. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND SALES

12. Easily transform your expertise into product sales

13. Passive income for website

14. Back of room sales for seminars and presentations

15. Develop Self-Study Programs - multiple CD set with manual (see here for an example)

16. Placement in catalogues and Amazon.com (see here for an example)

Private practice professionals are very special people. Most are unique, talented, passionate, knowledgable professionals who love their work and area of expertise, care deeply about their clients, and sincerely want to make a positive difference in the world. An audio CD can be very effective at communicating your uniqueness, passion, and caring to people that don't know you yet to help them like and trust you.  In my 20 years of private practice I've found an audio CD to be the single most effective marketing tool for generating prospects and converting them to clients.

How Do You Measure Success?

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.

Becoming Wealthy through the Home-Based Business Opportunity

Thanks to the Internet, more people than ever before are discovering that they can launch their own home-based business. Essentially, all you need is a computer, an Internet connection, and the right home-based business opportunity. The question then becomes, how to you select the best home based business opportunity? Here are four steps you can take to help you decide which opportunity is right for you.

Determine Your Goals

Before committing to an income opportunity at home, you first need to determine your goals. Are you interested in supplementing your income from your current job? Do you wish to stay at home with your children, but bring in a second income? Are you retired and want to supplement your pension or social security? Or are you tired of the nine-to-five grind and want to make a full time income by working only part time? Perhaps you have a specific financial goal in mind, such as a vacation or college fund, or maybe you want to harness the power of the Internet and become genuinely wealthy. Determining your financial goals will help you find the best home based business opportunity.

Can You Sell?

Many times, a home-based business opportunity requires you to sell products. Are you a salesperson at heart, or does the thought of calling people and selling products make you cringe? If you're a born salesperson, there are any number of opportunities that allow you to excel. However, if you're not a natural salesperson, there's no reason to go outside your comfort zone. Even if you try, you probably won't succeed.

Instead, find a home-based business opportunity that harnesses the power of the Internet to provide you with an automated, hands-off lead generation and sales system. Typically, these kinds of opportunities offer products - such as software or information products - that essentially sell themselves. The companies that offer these kinds of business opportunities will provide you with the tools you need to help you succeed, such as your own website, training, and marketing support.

Seek Out Flexibility

You may be in the position to work predetermined hours from home, but the majority of people who seek an income opportunity at home need flexibility. Perhaps you have school-age children, or maybe you are a night owl and want to work from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. The best home based business opportunity enables you to work the hours that are convenient to you and that allows you to access the vital information you need 24-7-365.

The Right Compensation Plan

There are almost as many compensation plans as there are home-based business opportunities. When you're reviewing opportunities, make sure to compare apples to apples. Generally speaking, the best compensation plans give you 100% of every sale after your first two sales (which go to your immediate upline). You then receive the sales from the first two sales of each person in your downline, and their downline, and so forth to infinity. This type of compensation plan generally outperforms those that are commission-based because commission-based compensation plans typically are of greatest benefit to those at the top and leave relatively little profit for you.

When you find the best home based business opportunity, you can maximize your earning potential and truly become wealthy.

Best Merchant Services

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.

Tips for Choosing the Right Homebased Business Products

Nature abhors a vacuum, so as an increasing number of people seek to start their own homebased business, thousands of homebased business opportunities have sprung up to fill the need. If you're ready to supplement your income or are sick of commuting and want to be your own boss by working from home, how do you find the products that will allow you to generate immediate money, and over time give you the income stream you desire? Here are some guidelines to help you make your decision.

Choose Consumer-Friendly Products

Many of the products available from homebased business opportunities are, in a word, impractical. For example, they may target a very select audience, such as with a suite of Internet marketing software or financial investment instruments. The more broad appeal a product has, the more successful you'll be. Why try to sell a product that one in 1,000 people will find useful when you can sell a product that one in three people will find useful? Homebased business success is, at its core, a numbers game. The more people who need and want your product, the greater the chance that you'll have a ready-made market and can sell the product. So, when choosing a product, select something that relates to an activity that most people engage in regularly. For example, virtually everyone goes shopping on a regular basis, so a product that provides a shopping discount or significant savings with free coupons would be wildly appealing.

Think Twice About Inventory

Many homebased business opportunities require you to stock inventory. Before signing on with one of these programs, think carefully about where you're going to keep your inventory. Do you have enough space for bulky items? What are the chances that the products will be damaged by heat or cold (if you keep them in the garage, for example)? Will you have to lug products from place to place, making it necessary to buy bins and have an office on wheels?

The best products to sell are those that take up little or no room. For example, selling something like a discount shopping card means that you don't have to carry the type of inventory that would interfere with your lifestyle.

Consider the Advantages of Flexibility

Every person who starts his or her own homebased business has a set of needs that the product should fulfill. For example, you may want to see a product with an international flavor, or one that has a global reach, in order to tap into the largest possible marketplace. Perhaps you want the flexibility of selling a product that can also be used for fundraising purposes on behalf of a school or church group. Make sure that the product you choose is flexible enough to meet your needs.

Of course, choosing the right product is only one component of selecting the right homebased business opportunity for you. A solid compensation plan is a must, as is top-notch training to help you succeed and an automated system that does the majority of the work for you. The homebased business company you choose to affiliate with should also be a good fit with your experience level and skill set. There are plenty of opportunities from which to choose, and finding the right company - and the right product - is a must!

How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling

Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re interested in the conversation, and it shows.

Most of us dislike putting on our "salesperson persona" when we make cold calls. We think it’s needed, however, because we’ve been trained to make the sale. And yet we’re interacting with a live, breathing person without having any real connection to him or her. It often feels fake, and it often is.

This artificial role puts a great stress on us, and sabotages our cold calling conversations. When we aren’t genuine, it’s a red flag to the other person that we have a sales agenda. This puts nearly everyone "on guard." They’ve never met us and are wary of possibly being manipulated.

Have you ever noticed that most cold calls break down the moment we try to "move" things along towards a sale? It’s as if we’re getting ready for battle, and the tension pushes us along.

But the person we’ve called doesn’t know us. The momentum we’re trying to impose puts him or her in a defensive position. They’re protecting themselves from a potential "intruder" who might have a self-serving agenda.

So how can we to shift into something more positive? We begin by focusing on the relationship rather than salesmanship.  We call with the anticipation of meeting someone new, and looking forward to a pleasant conversation to find out whether we can be of service. This mindset is subtle but powerfully felt by the other person.

Building relationships humanize our cold calling conversations -- and our selves.  We are less artificial. Cold calling conversations become more natural. And people tend to respond with more warmth and interest.

The point is not to use the "technique of building relationship" to improve sales. That’s having a hidden agenda rather than a relationship. Our goal is to see if we can provide something that will benefit the other person. If it doesn’t, then we prefer not to continue interrupting their day. That’s a real relationship, even if brief.

When we’re being real people treating others as real people, the difference is amazing. Both people are both more at ease. We anticipate talking with someone who may possibly have an interest in what we have to offer. And if they don’t, we’ve enjoyed our time with him or her.

When others feel this relaxed mindset from you, they are much more likely to welcome you into their day. But if you rigidly follow a script or launch into a mini-presentation, then your call is immediately pegged as something initiated primarily for your own gain. And that puts most people into resistance.

Here are 8 keys to building relationships in cold calling:

1. Focus on the other person’s needs rather than on securing a sale

2. Surrender to the outcome of your cold call so you can connect with your potential client at a human level

3. View the human connection as an exciting journey in which you encounter new and interesting people

4. Speak graciously and naturally as you would with any new acquaintance

5. Remember it’s about how you come across, not about how many people you call

6. Allow the conversation to evolve naturally

7. Invite both of you to decide together whether it’s worth your time to pursue the conversation further

8. Use phrases that are non-aggressive yet very effective

So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus from salesmanship into a place of relationship. You’ll find that your genuine enjoyment of the conversation rubs off on the other person. They’ll be less defensive and more likely to share with you truthfully.

One of the best ways to build relationship is by using phrases that carry the human element very well. Start out by asking, "Hi, could you help me out for a minute?" The most common response will be, "Sure. What do you need?"

Your next question might be to ask whether they are open to the idea of looking at different ways to, for example, reduce their expenses. Most of the time the reply will be something like, "Well, sure, what kinds of expenses are you talking about?"

Now you are able to open the conversation between the two of you and build an initial relationship. It’s easy and comfortable to continue from there.

When you do this, you’ll experience so much success and satisfaction that it will really change the way you do business. And it will bring sales success beyond your imagination.

Creative Business Opportunity Ideas for Work-at-Home Moms

More and more people are finding ways to earn money and work at home. There are many moms who would love to stay home to work and have their own income. Most homes have personal computers, which opens the door to many business opportunities for moms. It is estimated that there are more than three million people working at home now. You too can realize your dream of independence and success.

The mom who wants to make money at home has the ability to set her own schedule and work as much as she wants. If you are only interested in part-time work, then you can regulate the time spent on your home business. If you want to quit an outside job and work full-time at home, the option is your choice.

Find a Business Opportunity

There are numerous business opportunities for someone who wants to work at home. Some work-at-home moms choose an enterprise based on their own interests. Others choose to work for someone else and provide services needed. There are directories on the Internet to help you find the right company for you.

There are many companies that need help with clerical and computer work. You can also make money at home by doing phone polls, processing insurance claims and doing background checks. There are many companies that need products assembled at home, which could help you to get started in a home business of your own. Also, check with "work-at-home mom" websites for great tips, job resources, and helpful advice.

Be Your Own Boss

If you have a unique product or service to offer, you can open your own business web page. There are websites on the Internet to help you get started and many are free. This is an excellent business opportunity to get your products where the public will find them. With a website, you can still be your own boss and put as much time into the business as you want.

Some moms do not have the time or desire to promote their own products or services. Many have tried MLM and network marketing ventures and come away disillusioned. They may not want to sell products and deal with customers. In these cases, finding a good company that will train and support you is very important. Also, there are companies now that do the selling for you. They provide a phone staff to answer sales calls and close the sales. Some companies will even help you promote the business.

Benefit from Your Home Business

Instead of investing a large sum of your money in a business opportunity, find a company that allows you to enter at various levels where you can work up to higher levels. Instead of you having the burden of making all the sales and doing the support work, it is to your advantage to work with a company that helps you in your business. Doing so will allow you to keep a healthy balance between work and home life.

If you don't want high pressure and stressful goals, find a business opportunity that suits your interests and objectives. If you want to make money to live on or need something to do to fill your time, start looking now for the home business that will fulfill your hopes and dreams.

Five Best Practices For Dominating The Search Engines

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.