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Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
Personal
computers and the internet have revolutionized how people see a home
based business. There are many options today in computer home based
business that allow for almost anyone to begin making money from the
comfort of their own home.
To begin with, a person needs a home computer and internet access. It
is important to choose a computer that is running a new operating
system and that is not too old. The internet service should, ideally,
be a high speed service. If a person wants to start out with a dial up
connection it is a good idea to take advantage of those free trial
offers as each service's speed varies. By trying free trials a person
can find the fastest dial up connection possible.
After getting connected to the internet, a person should start
searching for information on computer home based business. It is very
important to understand, though, that there are scams out there that
can be costly and very time consuming. That is why, before signing up
for any opportunity, a person should carefully check it out. Doing a
search with a business name and the word 'scam' will usually do the
trick.
There are plenty of legitimate computer home based business choices
though. It is important not to get discouraged by scams, which is easy
to do when starting out. Through some careful research a person should
be able to easily find a good computer home based business.
Some of the perks of a computer home based business are that they allow
a person to work completely online. In many cases this means that they
will not have any inventory or any other responsibilities such as
shipping to handle. Additionally, a computer home based business means
a person can sell even when they are not at their computer or even at
home.
A computer home based business is something that can allow a person to
start making a living right from their home. They can begin to build up
a business that could possibly allow them to leave behind their full
time job outside the home and reap the rewards of working at home
forever.
Richard Weblog
10:20:23 PM 
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The biggest mistake I see first time entrepreneurs make is that they spend too much money.
They rent an office or retail location, pay big incorporation fees,
hire employees, and build an expensive website (just to name a few).
And all before they’ve earned their first dollar!
Each month their cash reserves get lower and lower while they
struggle to make sales to cover their expenses. Eventually the
fledgling business dies with no cash flow, leaving the owner hurt
emotionally and financially.
Luckily, it is possible (and actually quite simple) to start up a
business without spending a dime. The beauty of using this method is
that you can test out a new business idea
quickly and with zero risk. And instead of spending time negotiating
leases or dealing with employees, you can spend 100% of your time on
the most important thing: making that first sale!
The first thing you’ve got to do is get past the idea of spending.
Work out of your home or Starbucks on nights and weekends. Instead of
hiring employees just get started with what you can do yourself, or ask
friends for help. Don’t incorporate just yet, be a sole proprietorship. Don’t hire an expensive graphic artist to make your logo, stick with something simple…you get the idea.
You can spend money on all that stuff once you are bringing in revenue!
Now to actually get started, here are 10 steps you can use to launch a new business, without spending a dime. The first five are logistical. The last five are all free ways to market your business (after all, the most important step is bringing in that first sale!)
- Get an EIN at the IRS website
This one is specific to the USA, but all companies need an
Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can apply for one online at
the irs.gov in about 5 minutes by re. List yourself as a sole proprietor for now. - Setup Your Business Financials
Get a free business checking account. This will allow you to
keep your business’s money separate and track it (vitally important!).
I like Washington Mutual’s free business checking. They will also give
you a debit card to track your expenses (never use a credit card) which
are currently zero! Then get a Paypal account and link it to your business account so you can accept payments. - Choose a domain name
The fastest ways to get eyeballs on your new business is the internet these days. Choose a domain name that is a keyword phrase your potential customers might type into a search engine.
So if you are offering salsa lessons in Boston, you might choose
“SalsaLessonsBoston.com”. The benefit of doing this is that you will
most likely end up on the first page of Google results for that keyword
phrase within a month or two. This will bring your customesr, and is
much better than showing up on the first page for “John Smith’s Salsa
Company” or something that no one ever searches for. - Make a simple website
The fastest way I know of to launch a website is using
WordPress (wordpress.com or wordpress.org). If you don’t mind using a
subdomain like “mydomain.wordpress.com” it’s free. But even if you want
your own domain
you can get one with WordPress pre-installed for about $70/year.
Wordpress comes with over 2500 “themes” to change the look and a great
back end interface to edit the pages just like you’re in Microsoft word. LifeHack.org uses WordpPress as do many other popular sites. - Set Your Prices
Most first time entrepreneurs set their prices too low. People
assume low prices mean low quality, and you are worth more. Give away
your product or service to the first five customers free if you’d like
(it will help built buzz and you can ask them for testimonials), but
after that set your price in the top 1/3 of your industry. It’s always
easier to lower them than to raise them. - Start Marketing on CraigsList.com
The next five steps are all free marketing. Start by making regular posts on Craigslist.com.
This is a free classified website that attracts millions of viewers.
You can get some traffic to your website instantly by making some posts
here, and you should continue to repost them every few days. - Start a Meetup.com Group
Meetup.com helps people
with similar interests get together. If a group exists in your area
with potential customers, join it. Try to be invited as a guest speaker
and offer value to members of the group (don’t pitch them). Just by
making friends and helping out you will start to bring in business. If
a MeetUp group for your topic doesn’t exist yet, that’s even better.
Start one up! You’ll be viewed as the authority in the area. - Post a Video to YouTube.com
YouTube is a video sharing website, and it gets ridiculous
amounts of traffic. It’s actually easier to make a video than you
think, and it doesn’t have to be professional at all. You can record
one with your digital camera, make a screen recording of your computer
(even a powerpoint presentation)
with software like Camtasia, or purchase a $20 webcam. Teach or show
something useful, and include a link to your site at the end of the
video. You will get traffic! - Network
Send an email to all your friends and family (and really
everyone on your contact list) telling them about the business you just
started. Put a note at the end asking them to forward the note to
anyone they know who might be interested (and tell them about the free
offer for the first five customers). You’ll not only reach your network, but you’ll reach your network’s network (an exponential difference). You should also get people’s business cards that you meet (far more effective than giving them since few people will write you back) and offer to help them. - Write an Article and Give it Away!
Even if you aren’t a writer, you can put together a great
article. Think of something your potential customers might want to
know. Then write a “top ten” list (e.g. the top ten beginner salsa
moves) or a “ten step” format (e.g. the then steps to learning salsa
basics). Contact the owners of a dozen different websites that your
potential customers might visit, and see if they’d like to use your
article for free. Include a link to your website at the bottom in the
“About the Author” section.
Richard Weblog
6:03:26 PM
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Now that cooking is cool again, this generation may soon surpass
their parents in the kitchen.
Cooking time is influenced by the type, size, and shape of the food,
the degree of intended doneness, the initial temperature of the food
and the oven, the idiosyncrasies of your particular stove, the
presence of other items you are cooking concomitantly, opening the
oven door, and the cooking vessel. Learning to cook will save you a
ton of money, yes, because it's much cheaper to cook at home from
basic ingredients. Like painting or dancing or a perfect tennis
serve, cooking can be one of the most fulfilling of outlets for
creative energy.
We know many of you already are fine cooks. Cook what you like, and
think whichever thoughts you want to. Yes, you have to practice
cooking skills. But just like you learned the lyrics to your
favourite song or how to shoot a left-handed layup, you can learn to
cook three basic pasta sauces and how to cut up onions and thicken
soup and fillet a fish -- basic techniques you can apply to hundreds of
dishes.
In this part, we'll investigate whether raw food is or is not more
nutritious than cooked food. This will involve the following
considerations: What is the effect of cooking on
digestibility of various foods. Hence, it is necessary to
investigate the effects of cooking on digestibility. We'll see that
there is no general rule, and that there are many examples of foods
for which cooking improves digestibility, and many examples for which
it does not. "One of the main arguments of raw versus low-
temperature cooking is that heating above 104°F (40°C) results in
progressive enzyme damage; hence, even if you steam your vegetables,
your food is dead". It is well-known that cooking may result in some
vitamin and mineral losses. We conclude that cooking does not
represent huge nutritional losses, but of course, when the choice is
given, it is best to eat raw whatever is palatable in that form, and
to cook as little as possible when heating is necessary to improve
digestibility or to improve taste.
Foods can cook in their own natural juices, so that vitamins and
minerals are retained. The rule of thumb among foodservice
professionals is that foods should stay in the temperature range of
40 to 140 degrees as briefly as possible, because bacteria thrive in
this so-called "danger zone".
Few people in the US could agree on which foods are traditional
American cooking. For instance, bold flavors, a variety of spices
and hearty portions epitomize Louisiana dishes such as gumbo,
jambalaya, and red beans and rice prepared foods, Jan, 2005 by Bill
Hahne. To understand the cuisine of Louisiana, try to visualize a
huge cooking pot simmering with foods from France, Portugal, Spain,
Mexico, the Caribbean and even from the American Choctaw Indians,
being stirred up with soul. Much has already been said and written
about Creole and Cajun foods, the major cuisines of Louisiana.
Our cooking is as diverse as our population. But healthy cooking
isn't about subtracting from your recipes. Healthy cooking is about
good recipes that give you the maximum nutritional value for the
calories you're eating.
Richard Weblog
5:53:51 PM
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How To Naturally Cure TMJ
If you suffer from TMJ, you've probably come here after researching the
subject for a while. The reason you're here is that you've found no
reliable method. You have visited lots of information sites, maybe read
some books and they all say the same thing:
Nobody knows how to cure TMJ.
The only thing doctors can do is give out strong pain relief medicines
or muscle relaxation drugs. There is nothing else they can do.
All these medicines fail. Even if they reduce the pain a little for a
while in the beginning, they'll stop working, little by little, as your
body gets immune to them.
Some dentist specialize in TMJ. They put a dental implant in your
mouth. It may well be worth getting these implants. They may save you
from grinding your teeth at night. But most likely, they won't relief
your pain.
So why do TMJ experts fail you?
It's not really their fault. This is a very complicated this condition.
There is probably no one cause for all TMJ. Most likely, it's more like
a combination of many factors. What makes this even more complicated
is, the factors are most likely both emotional and physical.
Some people begin to experience TMJ after an accident of some sort.
Stress is an other trigger. But most of the time, doctors have no idea
what really causes their patient's TMJ. This can be very depressive for
people who suffer this condition.
Okay, that's enough. Lets talk about what we DO KNOW!
What we know for a fact about TMJ is, the jaw joints are always
misplaced in some way. It doesn't necessarily have to be complete
misplacement (although sometimes it is). Small wrong misplacement can
be enough. And the symptoms can be both nerve racking and painful...
Clicking, popping jaw joints ...Grating sounds ...Jaw locking opened or
closed ...Extreme pain in cheek muscles ...Uncontrollable jaw or tongue
movements ...Clenching or grinding at night ...Discomfort or pain to
any of these areas ...Limited opening ...Inability to open the jaw
smoothly or evenly ...Jaw deviates to one side when opening
...Inability to "find bite" with teeth ...Frequent, migraine type
headaches.
...are just few obvious symptoms. You may have some or all of them. Or
non at all. Like I said, this is very complicated condition.
What we also know is that the muscles around the jaw are always tense.
Sometimes they're torn a little, sometimes they're sore, but they're
always tense. Weak, tense muscles do not support the jaw in the right
way and will actually push it out of position, making this big part of
the problem.
This is similar to what happens with back problems. The back muscles
are stiff and weak to begin with. Then something happens, which puts
strain on the back. Maybe working in a wrong position or small injury.
It didn't really feel very bad in the beginning.
To avoid the mild pain, the muscles in the back get tense. It jut
happens. This is a function nature gave us to deal with pain. The real
problem begins when the tension in the back muscles push the spine
(even just a little bit) out of place. What should only have been minor
problem if the person had exercised and strengthen the back muscles, is
now chronic, serious condition.
It's no different with TMJ. Something that probably began as minor
problem (maybe small bump on the jaw or period of intense feelings) is
now becoming serious problem as the jaw muscles push on the jaw joints. Richard Weblog
5:46:05 PM
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Obesity has
become one of the major health issues in our society today. More than
half of the American population is overweight or obese. As a result,
diet and weight loss plans have become increasingly popular. But not
all diet plans work. And not all of them are necessarily risk-free. A
safer alternative for people wanting to lose weight are green tea diets.
About Green Tea
For thousands of years, green tea diet has been highly valued by the
Chinese as an herbal and medicinal drink. It was believed that green
tea diet was first discovered by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung who was
boiling water when the leaves of a nearby tree fell into his pot. The
result was the first ever pot of green tea.
Like all three of the major Asian teas in the market, green tea comes
from the plant called Carmellia sinensis. Much of the health benefits
of green tea diets owe to the steaming method of making it. As opposed
to black and oolong tea which undergoes full oxidization, green tea
diet is only gently steamed, preserving the natural antioxidants in its
original form.
The Health Benefits of Green Tea Diet
There are many health benefits associated with having a green tea diet.
One of these green tea diet benefits is preventing cancer. Certain
substances present in green tea diets are said to help in destroying
cancer cells without harming any neighboring tissues. This substance in
green tea diets is called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG.
EGCG in green tea diets is also helpful in increasing the 24-hour
energy expenditure of the body. A study on green tea diets conducted by
American and Swiss scientists in the University of Geneva showed an
additional increase of four percent in the body's natural energy
expenditure. People who were on a green tea diet were more likely to
use up more fats than those not on a green tea diet.
Also, green tea diets are said to greatly help in lowering down
cholesterol levels in humans. The study on green tea diets was
conducted in China using 240 people with high cholesterol levels as
subjects. These people were placed on a green tea diet of one capsule
(equivalent to seven cups of green tea) or were given one placebo every
day. After twelve weeks, those who were on a green tea diet dropped
sixteen percent in their cholesterol levels.
Green tea diets can also be a potential cure to obesity. The catechin
polyphenols present in green tea diets can delay the reaction of
gastric and pancreatic lipases in the body. These enzymes are
responsible for converting calories in the body into fats. By delaying
these enzymes, green tea diets can therefore stop fat from being stored
and prevent obesity in people.
Green tea diets contain substantial amount of caffeine that make it a
mild appetite-suppressant. However, caffeine content in green tea diets
is not as high as those found in other caffeine-based beverages, like
coffee. Caffeine may be harmful for the body since an excess of it can
cause heart palpitations, hypertension, and insomnia. Because green tea
diets contain only very low levels of caffeine, there is no danger of
experiencing these side-effects.
Richard Weblog
5:41:08 PM
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© Copyright 2007 Richard Walker.
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